Podcasts about Google Search Console

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

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.

In der 15. Auflage vom SISTRIX-SEO-Talk von OMT wurde deutlich, wie stark sich die Branche gerade durch neue Datenquellen und KI Entwicklungen verändert. Besonders das global ausgerollte Social Media Tracking in der Google Search Console eröffnet erstmals echte kanalübergreifende Einblicke – insbesondere für YouTube und Discover. Damit wird sichtbar, wie Social Plattformen zur Suche beitragen und welche Keywords oder Content Formate dort funktionieren. Parallel dazu liefert die neue Google Atlas Studie ein realistisches Bild darüber, wie Nutzer:innen KI Systeme tatsächlich verwenden. Sie zeigt, dass KI vor allem bei komplexen Suchanfragen genutzt wird und dass die Integration von KI Antworten in die Google Suche das Nutzerverhalten spürbar beeinflusst. Diese Entwicklungen markieren einen Wendepunkt: SEO wird nicht ersetzt, sondern durch KI Schichten erweitert, die neue Anforderungen an Datenqualität, Content Struktur und Markenpräsenz stellen. In der 15. Auflage vom SISTRIX-SEO-Talk von OMT wurde deutlich, wie stark sich die Branche gerade durch neue Datenquellen und KI Entwicklungen verändert. Besonders das global ausgerollte Social Media Tracking in der Google Search Console eröffnet erstmals echte kanalübergreifende Einblicke – insbesondere für YouTube und Discover. Damit wird sichtbar, wie Social Plattformen zur Suche beitragen und welche Keywords oder Content Formate dort funktionieren. Parallel dazu liefert die neue Google Atlas Studie ein realistisches Bild darüber, wie Nutzer:innen KI Systeme tatsächlich verwenden. Sie zeigt, dass KI vor allem bei komplexen Suchanfragen genutzt wird und dass die Integration von KI Antworten in die Google Suche das Nutzerverhalten spürbar beeinflusst. Diese Entwicklungen markieren einen Wendepunkt: SEO wird nicht ersetzt, sondern durch KI Schichten erweitert, die neue Anforderungen an Datenqualität, Content Struktur und Markenpräsenz stellen. Für die Praxis bedeutet das: Sichtbarkeit muss neu gedacht, aber nicht neu erfunden werden. Spam Updates wie das vom 25. Juni zeigen, dass Google weiterhin konsequent gegen Muster, Templates und Inhalte vorgeht, die keinen echten Mehrwert bieten. Gleichzeitig wird die Bedeutung von Produktseiten, strukturierten Daten und hochwertigen Feeds im E Commerce größer, weil KI Systeme diese Informationen stärker nutzen. Publisher müssen sich auf eine Welt einstellen, in der KI Antworten Klicks reduzieren, aber starke Marken weiterhin gewinnen. Und für alle gilt: KI Erwähnungen, Sentiment und Empfehlungsstärke sind wertvolle Indikatoren – aber keine Business KPIs. Am Ende zählt, ob Nutzer:innen konvertieren, ob Vertrieb Rückmeldungen gibt und ob die Marke im Markt Vertrauen aufbaut. SEO bleibt die operative Basis, GEO die strategische Erweiterung, und beide zusammen bestimmen, wie Marken in der KI gestützten Suche der Zukunft bestehen.

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...

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

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

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.

Jim and Kristine learn of the death of the father of SEO, Bruce Clay while discussing industry announcements. Bruce is thought to be the first person to make a professional service out of improving a website to achieve better search engine results. Bruce built an agency that spanned the world with offices serving every continent except Antarctica. A staple speaker, panelist, presenter, exhibitor, and sponsor on the SEO conference circuit, Bruce's development of and support for the search marketing community helped turn a cottage industry into a multi-billion dollar a year big business. Along the way, he took a handful of a few hundred foundlings and taught us how to do the business of this business. What SEO is today is directly because of the work and career of Bruce Clay. RIP and thank you Bruce. You're going to be missed by so many. In other news, Google rolled out a June 2026 Spam Update that lasted only slightly longer than the entire show did. News it ended was released just after we finished recording. - Google Search Console's reporting feature is fixed- Google says it can spot spam using Sentence Bert or as we intend to refer to it, Sbert- Google's John Mueller answers questions about SEO for AI Agents- Gemini has made the Chrome browser less secure as Chrome retools itself or an agentic web. Hackers have recently demonstrated they can seize a Chrome browser using Gemini.- The US government is facing lawsuits for disallowing access to Claud Fable5 and Mythos5 models to anyone but US born citizens- The FCC is killing the $2billion program that made Internet available to many schools and public libraries- Anthropic accuses Alibaba of outright copying it, in pursuit of a building a model to rival Mythos.- Investors are showing hesitance with an AI sector unable to show how it will ever turn a profit- The Tokenopocalypse has hit large scale consultancy Accenture which, having blown through a year's worth of AI spend in three months, is scrambling to limit staff use of AI- About a third of Fintech websites are invisible to AI crawlers due to their dependence on real time data display. - Google's John Mueller confirms the outcomes of site migrations are often impossible to fully predict ahead of time. - Microsoft has added another 365days to the Windows10 extended update program because nearly 25% of all computers in the world continue to run Windows10Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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 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  Subscribe to Lunch Hour Legal Marketing: https://play.megaphone.fm/boagdxq4tr2wawseaj104w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 

This week, I recorded from Boston - sorry for the appearance. We covered the Google May 2026 core update rolling out. Google Search Console released to a few new AI performance reports and new AI controls. Bing...

(This episode was recorded late due to illness)- Google's May 2026 Core Update continues to roll out. - Google has changed it's home page to promote AI features from Google I/O. - Google Business Profiles is now offering detailed rejection notices. Previously GBP owners were left in the dark to figure out the issues on their own. - The links report in Google Search Console is broken. It always underreported but now it's not updating. - The Trump Administration has created at Trumptastic app which it is ordering all employees to install on government phones. - Amnesty International has declared AIs "Unlawful by Design" taking issue with unlawful web scraping and the ease of identifying and doxing activists. - Google CEO Sundar Pichai outlined his vision for the unification of Google Search, AI agents, and AI tools in an interview with The Verge, downplaying Zero-click web concerns. - DuckDuckGo is taking off, tripling its traffic in a week- Stanford research shows AI hiring algorithms reject Black and Asian job seekers at far higher rates.- WordPress is slowly losing market share seeing declines six months in a row- All this and much more in the least lawfully designed yet unified edition.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

LLM search is only about 1% of the total search market. Google still controls roughly 88%. So why do so many marketer's content strategy sound like it was written by someone in a panic about AI overviews? This week we're resurfacing a conversation with Grace Sharkey of Orderful to reset what SEO actually looks like for logistics in 2026, with a new intro reacting to Google's recent guidance on what does and does not matter.Included in this conversation is a fresh take on what Google just clarified, including what they're saying about llms.txt files, FAQ pages, and schema. Then we roll into the conversation where Grace asks the questions and Blythe walks through Google Search Console, long-tail keywords, the FAQ-page rebuild, and why your recorded sales calls are the most underused content gold mine in your stack.In this episode:Why Google Search Console beats Ahrefs and SEMrush for figuring out what to fix firstHow to sort your queries for the fastest click-through-rate winsThe long-tail paragraph queries LLMs are actually answeringWhy the FAQ page is the easiest piece of SEO work you can ship this quarterWhat Google just said about llms.txt files (spoiler: you do not need one)How to turn recorded sales and onboarding calls into a content engineWhy YouTube case studies beat gated PDF whitepapers for shippersThe "how did you hear about us" form field every high-intent page should haveWatch this episode on YouTubeLinks and resources:Grace Sharkey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-sharkey-31940765/Orderful: https://www.orderful.comGoogle Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-consoleAdam Robinson's Air Cover newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/air-cover-7450924377958912000/ SEO expert Gaetanao DiNardi: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7368964829673390084/More logistics marketing and sales content over on Everything is Logistics -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers. 

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

Tune into expert AI and marketing strategies designed for entrepreneurs and brands striving to become indispensable with Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS. Explore technical SEO, AI marketing techniques, and actionable tactics to boost your visibility and revenue. This episode offers real-world advice to help you master digital marketing and grow your social business online and offline.Favour discusses the essential steps every business owner and brand builder should take to ensure their website and content are recognized, trusted, and indexed by Google. Topics span from domain acquisition and technical setup to organic SEO strategies and evaluating digital visibility. Focusing on the importance of foundational elements like DNS records, consistent quality content, and leveraging free Google tools, Favour makes the case for building a strong organic presence before running ads, ensuring long-term growth and authority online.Who Is This For?Entrepreneurs and small business owners Marketing professionals Website owners and bloggers Anyone aiming to improve online visibility and brand authorityIndividuals seeking long-term digital growth through SEOKey Moments & TimestampsSetting the Stage: Importance of Google for brand recognition and longevity online [00:00:04]The Brand/Google Question: Do you have a brand, and does Google know it? [00:00:36]Domain as Digital Identity: The role of domains for branding, using dovid.com as an example [00:02:05]Identifying Website Issues: Live advice and examples about email deliverability, domain authentication, and DNS health [00:10:33]Google's Free Tools: How to check if your site is indexed using site:domain.com and Google's experimental "learn-about" feature [00:19:37]Organic SEO Before Ads: Why you shouldn't run ads before building organic foundations [00:38:00]Technical Foundations: Importance of DNS, MX records, sitemaps, and technical configuration for trust/visibility [00:27:26]EEAT: Google's acronym – Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust [00:46:58]Content Longevity vs. Social: Focus on blogs and evergreen content vs. ephemeral social posts [00:51:43]DIY Check: Step-by-step guide to see if you're indexed (site colon search) [00:54:07], [00:55:52]Action Wrap-Up: How to connect, get audits, and next steps [00:57:11], [01:00:13]SEO SummaryBrand = Domain: Your digital “home” is your domain; it's the anchor for all brand activities.Google Recognition: Being online is not enough—Google must be able to identify, trust, and index your content.Technical Health: Essential to configure DNS, email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), sitemaps, robots.txt, and page speed.Organic First: Build trust and visibility via organic SEO efforts before investing in paid ads for better ROI and lower cost-per-click.Content Quality: Content must have structure, value, and meet EEAT standards. Consistent publishing and context matter.Indexing Check: Use site:yourdomain.com and Google's “learn-about” experiment to see how visible your pages are.SEO Tools: Google Search Console, nslookup, and DNS health tools are critical for monitoring visibility and deliverability.Top FAQsHow do I check if Google knows my brand?Search site:yourdomain.com on Google to see indexed pages.What is the Learn About experiment?A Google tool (learning.google.com/experiments/learn-about/signup) to see what Google knows about your brand.Why do I need SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?These email authentications improve deliverability and trust.Should I run ads before optimizing SEO?No—establish organic foundations first to save money and increase effectiveness.What makes content rank well?High-quality, structured, relevant content that demonstrates EEAT (experience, expertise, authority, trust).Action StepsCheck your brand's index status with site:yourdomain.com on Google.Set up or update DNS, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.Connect your site to Google Search Console and submit a sitemap.Audit and improve page speed, structure, and content quality.Start a blog and focus on evergreen, helpful content answering audience questions.Use the Google “learn-about” experiment to gauge your brand's digital presence.Build organic authority before launching paid ad campaigns. Consistently monitor, update, and scale your SEO and brand foundation.Ready to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today

Harry Duran, founder of Fullcast and creator of Podisphere, joins Jeff Mains to explore what it really takes to build a sustainable podcast, grow a content brand, and stay ahead in a rapidly AI-shaped media world.Harry shares his journey from corporate marketing at JPMorgan Chase and E-Trade, to launching his first podcast Podcast Junkies in 2014, to building Fullcast — a podcast production and marketing consultancy that has helped over 130 business owners launch and grow shows. He also dives deep into his newest ventures: Podisphere (a G2-style SaaS directory for podcast tools) and Podclaw (an agent-first podcast hosting platform built for AI agents, not humans).The conversation covers the seismic shift happening in content creation right now — from vibe coding and Claude Code to autonomous AI agents that market products while you sleep. Harry and Jeff also discuss why long-form human conversations are becoming more valuable in an era flooded with AI-generated content, the power of niche podcasting, and why the most important skill for the next decade may simply be learning how to talk to robots.Key Takeaways0:00 — Intro: What it takes to build a podcast and a business around it in an AI-driven content landscape4:40 — Recap of previous guests: Justin Trombold on AI strategy and Rick Delisi on The Effortless Experience6:10 — Welcoming Harry Duran — how he helped launch SaaS Fuel and what Fullcast does9:50 — Harry's origin story: From JPMorgan Chase and Unilever to electronic music, DJing, and discovering podcasting at New Media Expo in 201413:30 — Meeting Pat Flynn and Amy Porterfield; pivoting from a DJ podcast to Podcast Junkies; recognizing podcasting as your own personal stage17:10 — How Harry's first paying client (a $1,000 PayPal from John Livesay) launched Fullcast in 201522:10 — Introducing Podisphere: A G2.com-style directory for podcast tools — the inspiration, the build journey, and why traffic is the only metric that matters to sponsors27:30 — Building with no-code tools (Airtable, Webflow, Bubble), the frustrations of non-technical founding, and how vibe coding changed everything in 202531:30 — Claude Code, Agent OS, and spec-driven development: how Harry built more in six months than in five years combined37:50 — SEO strategy for Podisphere: Fathom Analytics, Ahrefs, programmatic blog posts, Google Search Console, and hitting 7,000 page views/month without a press release45:20 — The power of founder relationships: How 12 years of Podcast Junkies led to meeting Andrew Mason (Descript), the SquadCast acquisition, and building a network that fuels Podisphere51:00 — Why every founder should have a podcast: relationship-building, opening doors, and earning "street cred"54:40 — Introducing Podclaw: An agent-first podcast hosting platform built for AI agents, not humans1:01:30 — Moltbook: The AI agent social network, digital wallets for agents, and autonomous marketing via cron jobs1:08:00 — The "agent economy" and why SaaS companies that block agents are "dead men walking"1:15:30 — Why the most important future skill is learning how to talk to robots; parallels to the dot-com era of 19991:21:30 — The future of podcasting: AI-generated shows, long-form authentic conversation, niche doubling down, and why human voices are becoming more valuable1:28:00 — NotebookLM and the rise of AI podcast hosts; the disclosure debate1:33:20 — Harry's personal operating system: morning meditation, written intentions, strength training, and protecting attention before screens1:37:30 — Where to find Harry: fullcast.co, thepodisphere.com, podclaw.ioTweetable Quotes"The most important skill in the future is learning how to talk to robots." — Harry Duran"You can't speak to someone for an hour and forget their face. That's the magic of podcasting — it builds relationships that nothing else can replicate." — Harry Duran"The people who made money in the gold rush were the ones who sold the picks, the shovels, and Levi's." — Harry Duran"Companies that block agents are dead men walking. If agents can't get the data from you, someone else will build what they need." — Jeff Mains"It never feels done — you just have to ship it. Get it out there." — Harry Duran"AI is like having the vision in your head and finally being able to build at the speed of thought." — Harry DuranSaaS Leadership Lessons1. Build Your Distribution Before You Need ItHarry spent over a decade building Podcast Junkies before it became the foundation of Podisphere. His relationships with founders like Andrew Mason (Descript) and the SquadCast team weren't accidental — they were built over 500+ interviews. Leaders who invest in platforms, relationships, and audiences compounding quietly are the ones who have leverage when they need it.2. Sell Picks and Shovels — Build for the EcosystemRather than fighting for space in a crowded software category, Harry positioned Podisphere as the infrastructure layer (the G2 of podcasting). Great SaaS leaders ask: What does this entire ecosystem need that nobody is building? Being a connector and aggregator often outlasts being just another point solution.3. Non-Technical Founders Must Learn to Build at the Speed of ThoughtHarry's journey from Airtable → Bubble → Fiverr developers → Claude Code is a roadmap for any non-technical founder in 2025. The bottleneck is no longer code — it's vision and prompting. The founder who can articulate their product clearly to an AI builds faster, iterates faster, and maintains greater ownership of the product direction.4. Traffic Is the Only Metric That Converts to Revenue — Build for Discovery FirstPodisphere hit 7,000 page views/month organically before a single press release by treating every page as an SEO asset. Harry obsessed over internal links, programmatic blog posts, and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) for AI search. SaaS leaders building content or marketplace products should think like search engines think — not just build pretty interfaces.5. Agent-First Is the New Mobile-First — Design for It NowHarry didn't build Podclaw for human users. He built it for AI agents, complete with clean APIs, no unnecessary dashboards, and agent-friendly architecture. As agent economies emerge (complete with digital wallets and autonomous purchasing), SaaS products that block or ignore agents will be displaced. Build your API surface today like agents are your power users tomorrow.6. Protect Your Peak Performance Hours — Your Best Output Comes from Taking Care of Yourself FirstHarry meditates 20 minutes every morning, writes intentions in the present tense, and strength trains three days a week before opening a laptop. He's explicit: this is not a nice-to-have. The onslaught of screens, AI noise, and constant stimulation hijacks your nervous system. The leaders who perform at the highest level over the longest runway are the ones who treat personal maintenance as a non-negotiable operating system.Guest Resourceshttps://fullcast.co/hdbioEpisode SponsorThe Futureproof Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfkXKUPZ5xuOqMPR7_gzGybncTtavyR1NThe Captain's KeysSmall Fish, Big Pond – https://smallfishbigpond.com/ Use the promo code ‘SaaSFuel'Champion Leadership Group – https://championleadership.com/SaaS Fuel ResourcesWebsite - https://championleadership.com/Jeff Mains on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkmains/Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffkmainsFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/thesaasguy/Instagram - https://instagram.com/jeffkmains

In this solo episode of SEO 101, Scott Van Achte covers Bing's growing market share, updates to Google's AI Overviews, a major Google Search Console data bug, the impact of structured markup on AI citations, the end of FAQ rich results, Ask.com's shutdown, a defamation lawsuit over AI errors, and Google's outdated meta keywords advice.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Two common Google Search Console questions get answered in this episode: what it means when impressions are rising but average rankings stay flat, and whether keywords still matter for blog posts. The short answer on rankings might surprise you. And the advice around blogging and keywords could save your site from a problem that looks like progress while quietly making things worse.Timestamps [0:00] Introduction [0:24] Listener question: impressions rising but rankings unchanged [0:49] What impressions and average rankings mean in Search Console [1:50] Why rising impressions with flat rankings is actually a good sign [2:20] How new keywords entering the index affect your average ranking [3:15] Why average ranking is a misleading metric to track [3:55] Meredith's question: are keywords still important for blogs [4:22] What bloggers offering "keyword-included" posts are actually doing [5:00] Keyword cannibalization explained [5:45] What the right keyword strategy for blogs actually looks like [6:35] Why keyword stuffing in blogs works against you Try WisprFlowhttps://wisprflow.ai/r?CHRIS37400 --Learn more about the MENTORING PROGRAM:www.meredithshusband.comSubmit questions for future episodeshttps://forms.gle/bqxbwDWBySoiUYxL7

This episode provides practical advice on advanced SEO, AI engine optimization (AEO), answer engine optimization, technical website optimization, schema, and retention strategies for anyone looking to improve digital marketing visibility in the age of AI. Learn how to harness evolving platforms, implement the latest best practices, and create resilient, audience-focused web ecosystems.In this insightful episode, Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS dives deep into the evolution of SEO—comparing the foundations of "old" Search Engine Optimization with the demands and opportunities of "new" Search Everywhere Optimization.Listeners will uncover essential strategies for optimizing content across today's rapidly shifting digital environments, including website best practices, AI integrations, and the importance of technical SEO fundamentals.Favour explains how staying updated and proactive is vital, as algorithm changes and the rise of AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and others are reshaping the discovery and ranking of digital content. Favour also takes questions from the community, responding with real-world examples and tactical advice.Whether you're a business owner, marketer, content creator, or SEO professional, this episode offers actionable guidance for adapting to future-focused SEO. Listeners will learn why website speed, schema markup, secure protocols, and precise keyword versus prompt usage matter more than ever.Favour also discusses why attention and retention are the new KPIs, plus the growing importance of authority, expertise, and trust—in both human and AI-powered search.Who Is This For?Digital marketersBusiness owners and entrepreneursSEO professionalsContent creators and website managersAnyone seeking to future-proof their digital presenceReady to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS, dives deep into the realities of budgeting and investing for SEO services in 2026. Favour explains that businesses should expect to invest between $500 and $10,000 monthly, emphasizing that organic search provides a much higher long-term conversion rate than paid media. The conversation heavily highlights the necessity of technical SEO—such as integrating Google Search Console and fixing canonical tags—before scaling content. Furthermore, Favour breaks down the evolution of "AI SEO," explaining how modern websites must use structured data, updated content tags, and local zip code embedding to ensure they are recommended by AI bots and localized search updates.Who is this for? This content is perfectly tailored for business owners, digital marketers, entrepreneurs, and content creators looking to navigate the technical and financial realities of search engine optimization in 2026. Whether you manage a local brick-and-mortar shop or a global e-commerce brand, this breakdown provides a blueprint for leveraging organic growth and artificial intelligence.Ready to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS breaks down the semantic web SEO concept of "page indexing," explaining that it is simply the process by which search engines discover, crawl, and store your web pages in their database. Using a library analogy, he explains that just as a library must log a newly purchased book before patrons can find it on the shelf, Google must index your pages before users can discover them in search results.Favour emphasizes that high-quality content is practically invisible if it hasn't been properly indexed.He also walks the audience through the technical steps of verifying a domain via Google Search Console and stresses the importance of owning your hosting and DNS records.Who is this for?This content is tailored for business owners, content creators, podcasters, and website managers who want to understand fundamental SEO concepts to increase their online visibility and website traffic.Key MomentsSegment 1: Introduction to page indexing and how it builds long-term business visibility.Segment 2: Step-by-step technical guide to setting up Google Search Console and submitting sitemaps.Segment 3: Understanding how accidental "no-index tags" can hide your website from the internet.Segment 4: How third-party platforms (like Apple Podcasts and Spotify) generate indexed links that boost your search presence.Segment 5: The "Library Analogy" explaining why indexing is simply digital storage.Segment 6: The importance of controlling your Domain Name Server (DNS) and hosting platforms.FAQsWhat is page indexing?It is the process where search engines discover, crawl, and store web pages into their database, making them searchable and eligible to appear in search results. Ultimately, indexing simply means "storage on the web".Why isn't my website showing up on Google?Your site might not be indexed. This can happen if you haven't submitted your sitemap to Google Search Console, or if your site has default "no-index tags" that actively tell Google to ignore your pages.Does podcasting help with indexing?Yes. When you publish a podcast episode to platforms like Apple, Spotify, or Amazon, each of those platforms creates a link that gets indexed by Google, multiplying your online footprint.What is a DNS and why does it matter?DNS stands for Domain Name System or Server. It connects your domain to your hosting platform. You must have access to your DNS records to verify your site ownership with Google and ensure you maintain full operational control over your business's online presence.Action Steps Recommended by Favour Obasi-ikeCheck your site status: Use a tool like nslookup.io to research your website's domain records.Set up Google Search Console: Go to Google Search Console and add your domain property.Verify your domain: Copy the provided TXT record and add it to your DNS records within your hosting platform to prove you own the site.Submit your sitemap: Once verified, submit your sitemap (e.g., yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml) to Google Search Console to prompt Google to scan your pages.Audit your hosting setup: Ensure you have direct, personal access to your own domain name server and hosting plan to avoid losing control of your intellectual property.Ready to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today

Want to use AI in your voiceover business without giving up control of how you sound, how you write, or how clients see you? In this episode of the VOpreneur Podcast, Marc Scott shares the framework that keeps his AI use sustainable: treat AI like an employee, not the boss. Then he walks through five practical ways voice actors can put AI to work — saving time, saving money, and getting found by more clients, even with zero technical background or SEO budget. Inside this episode: - How to drop your raw Google Analytics data into ChatGPT for a plain-English breakdown of what's working on your website (and what isn't) - The same shortcut applied to Google Search Console — and why it's the fastest way to learn which keywords are actually driving traffic to your VO website - What SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) mean for voice actors — and how to position yourself to show up when buyers search inside ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini - The right way to use AI as a writing assistant for marketing emails so they still sound like you, not a chatbot - How to use AI as a brainstorming buddy for social media so "I don't know what to post" stops being the reason you don't post Marc also explains why the $20–$30/month investment can pay back significantly when you're a solo voice actor competing against established names with decades of website authority — and why the voice actors who choose to embrace AI now have a ground-floor opportunity in generative engine optimization that won't last forever. Whether you're an experienced voice actor looking to build efficiencies into your business, or a newer VO talent trying to figure out where to start, this episode gives you a clear, no-hype roadmap for putting AI to work — on your terms.

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS breaks down actionable strategies for securing high-authority Google rankings in 2026. He explains Google's standard E-E-A-T principles and details the five crucial stages of search engine visibility: crawling, indexing, rendering, ranking, and serving.The conversation sparks discussions on how to leverage Google Search Console, balance do-follow and no-follow backlinks, and embed social media content to boost site authority.A major theme of the discussion is the shift from traditional SEO to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), emphasizing that websites must be structurally "agent-ready" with proper schema data to be cited by AI models.Who is this for?This content is highly valuable for business owners, website managers, digital marketers, and content creators looking to adapt to 2026 search trends, master Google ranking factors, and understand the integration of Generative AI and LLMs into modern SEO strategies.Key MomentsBreakdown of Google's E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) framework.Deep dive into the 5 technical phases of search visibility (from Crawling to Serving).Clarifying backlink strategies, including why authoritative sites like Wikipedia strictly use "no-follow" links.Favour shares a live diagnostic trick: using the "site:yourdomain.com" Google search command to check page indexing.Trent and Favour discuss how AI traffic is expected to comprise 30% of search by 2026, making structured data vital for AI bot citations.FAQsWhat is E-E-A-T?It stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust—Google's core principles for validating ranking content.What is the difference between do-follow and no-follow links?A do-follow link endorses a site and passes "link equity" (domain authority) to the receiver, while a no-follow link provides a citation or reference without passing on domain authority.How can I quickly check if Google is indexing my website pages?Type site:yourdomain.com (no spaces) into Google's search bar to view all the pages currently recognized by Google's servers.Is traditional SEO dead because of AI?No, but it is evolving into GEO. You must optimize your site structure (schema, tags, microdata) so AI bots (like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity) can successfully scrape and cite your content in their answers.Ready to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today

#351 | Dave is joined by Corey Haines, the founder of Conversion Factory, Swipe Files, and Marketing-Skills.com, which has over 20,000 stars on GitHub. He's been all-in on AI since 2023 and in this episode he shows Dave exactly how he works now. He pulls up his screen and walks through live keyword research from an API, 10 programmatic SEO pages generated in under a minute, a cross-referenced SEO audit that would cost five figures from a consultant, a RevOps skill that audits HubSpot and builds out a lead scoring model, and a video editor running in the browser. Then they talk about what all of it means for marketers: the job isn't going away, but the way you do it is changing fast, and the gap between marketers who get that and those who don't is already showing up.Timestamps(00:00) - Don Draper, Peggy, and what AI actually changes about marketing (04:23) - Who is Corey Haines and how he went from laid off to AI-pilled (07:49) - The moment at coding boot camp that changed how he thinks about AI (10:30) - Why Claude Code in the terminal beats every other interface (14:40) - What Marketing-Skills.com is and how skills actually work (22:00) - Live demo: keyword research pulled straight from an API (24:15) - Live demo: 10 programmatic SEO pages built in 30 seconds (30:50) - Pushing pages live and the future of website editing (36:20) - Cross-referencing Google Search Console, Fathom, and keyword data (40:40) - Live demo: RevOps skill that audits HubSpot and builds lead scoring (47:20) - Video editing in the browser with Remotion and Claude (52:30) - The marketer as creative director: what the job actually looks like now (56:20) - The bull case for marketers in an AI world Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterLearn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/***Brought to you by:Knak - A no-code, campaign creation platform that lets you go from idea to on-brand email and landing pages in minutes, using AI where it actually matters. Learn more at knak.com/exitfive, or check out the MCP server by clicking this link. Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get on the waitlist for their new MCP server by clicking here. Compound Growth Marketing - A full-funnel demand generation agency that helps high-growth cybersecurity, DevOps, and enterprise software companies drive more pipeline through AI SEO, paid media, and go-to-market engineering. Visit compoundgrowthmarketing.com and tell them Dave sent you.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more

Master technical SEO & backlinks safely with compliance. Learn do-follow vs no-follow vs sponsored vs UGC backlinks, internal linking tactics, and why websites need at least 6–24 months for positive return on investment.Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS demystifies the complex world of SEO backlinks, breaking down the critical differences between do-follow, no-follow, sponsored, and user-generated content (UGC) links. He highlights that do-follow links pass valuable "link juice" and authority to your site, while no-follow links act as essential brand signals.Favour stresses that earning backlinks requires high-quality content and a secure website, warning heavily against the trap of buying spammy, toxic links. Listeners will learn how to properly utilize Google Search Console, build smart internal link structures, and play the long game—focusing purely on creating high-quality, secure content for 6 to 24 months before worrying about external backlinks.Who is this for?This deep dive episode is essential listening for entrepreneurs, digital marketers, website owners, content creators, and SEO beginners who want to move beyond guesswork. If you need to understand technical SEO, safely build domain authority, and learn the exact mechanics of backlinks without risking a Google penalty, Favour Obasi-ike provides the definitive guide.Key Moments & Chronological Breakdown[Beginning] The Basics of Backlinks: Favour introduces backlinks as digital references, defining do-follow versus no-follow links and explaining how do-follow links transfer page rank signals, whereas no-follow links (like those from Wikipedia or Forbes) act as a brand citation or hint without passing equity.[Early Discussion] Tracking Your Success: A walkthrough on how to find your specific external backlinks using Google Search Console, moving from the bottom-left settings to the "Links" report.[Midway] The Danger of Toxic Links & Site Protection: A warning against spammy "toxic" backlinks that can result in Google penalties, why purchasing links ruins your reputation, and the absolute necessity of having a secure (HTTPS) website to build foundational trust.[Midway] Realistic Timelines for New Websites: Answering a question from Omar, Favour shares the hard truth that brand new websites generally take 6 to 24 months to rank on the first page of Google. New sites must focus on content marketing and indexing before attempting to acquire external backlinks.[Late Discussion] Internal Linking Masterclass: Favour explains to Jasmine and Tracy that internal links (linking pages within your own site) are automatically do-follow. He shares a brilliant, actionable tactic: always link old blog posts to newly published ones, and vice versa, to signal content freshness to search algorithms.[Conclusion] Leveraging Shared Media: Using platforms like Reddit, podcasts, Pinterest, and LinkedIn to post original content links, thereby generating legitimate user-generated content (UGC) backlinks and initial traffic.Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)What is the difference between a do-follow and a no-follow link?A do-follow link automatically passes "link juice" (page ranking authority) from one site to another, essentially telling search engines to endorse you. A no-follow link acts as a brand citation or hint but does not directly transfer link equity.Are all internal links do-follow?Yes. By default, when you link from one page on your website to another page on your same website, it acts as a do-follow link because you are moving traffic and authority within your own property.Are no-follow links bad for my SEO?No! You need a natural balance of both to avoid looking suspiciously like you are unethically acquiring links. Major platforms like Wikipedia and magazines use no-follow links by default, and they are vital for a healthy backlink profile.Should I buy backlinks?Absolutely not. Favour equates this to buying fake followers; you cannot buy trust. It often results in toxic backlinks that penalize your site's ranking rather than helping it.How long does it take a new website to rank on Google?It realistically takes between 6 to 24 months. New sites must focus on building a secure site, getting properly indexed by Google, and creating valuable, referenceable content first, rather than chasing external links immediately.How do I avoid toxic backlinks?You cannot entirely prevent people from linking to you, but you can protect yourself by maintaining a secure HTTPS website, earning your links organically rather than buying them, and focusing on quality content that naturally attracts reputable sources.Action Steps for ListenersSecure Your Website: Ensure your site uses HTTPS to provide a secure lock icon. This builds foundational trust so that visitors, search engines, and other sites view you as a trustworthy page.Audit Your Google Search Console: Verify your site is connected. Navigate to the bottom-left settings, click "Links," and check your "External Links" to accurately monitor which external domains are referencing your domain.Master Internal Linking: Every time you publish a new article, create a hyperlink back to a relevant older article, and immediately update that older post with a link pointing to the new one to ensure your site is interconnected and marked as "fresh".Adopt a "Give to Get" Content Strategy: Before asking for links, create high-quality, research-backed content on your own site that others will naturally want to reference.Leverage Shared Media for Early Links: Post your original content on your site first, then share those links on platforms like Reddit, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or in podcast show notes to build initial traffic and generate legitimate user-generated content (UGC) backlinks.Check Your Authority Over Time: Use the Ahrefs Website Authority Checker (ahrefs.com/website-authority-checker) to measure your site's current standing, monitor your domain's health, and track progress over time.Ready to Rank? 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Start a free trial of HubSpot's new AEO tool: https://clickhubspot.com/wdlc Ep. 420 In AI search,, relevancy matters more than authority. Kipp, Kieran, Beeri Amiel (Product at HubSpot and founder of XFunnel), and guest Sam Parr (Host of My First Million) dive into how AI-driven answer engines are disrupting traditional SEO and what marketers must do to adapt. Learn more on how AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is changing the rules of search, why citation and content relevance matter more than authority, and what tools and tactics you can implement to succeed in the new era of AI search. Mentions Sam Parr https://www.linkedin.com/in/parrsam My First Million https://www.mfmpod.com/ Hampton https://joinhampton.com/ The Hustle https://thehustle.co/ Beeri Amiel https://www.linkedin.com/in/beeri-amiel XFunnel https://www.xfunnel.ai/ HubSpot AEO Portal https://clickhubspot.com/aeo Ahrefs https://ahrefs.com/ Google Search Console https://search.google.com/search-console/about Get our guide to build your own Custom GPT: https://clickhubspot.com/customgpt Resource [Free] Steal our favorite AI Prompts featured on the show! Grab them here: https://clickhubspot.com/aip We're on Social Media! Follow us for everyday marketing wisdom straight to your feed YouTube: ​​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGtXqPiNV8YC0GMUzY-EUFg  Twitter: https://twitter.com/matgpod  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matgpod  Thank you for tuning into Marketing Against The Grain! Don't forget to hit subscribe and follow us on Apple Podcasts (so you never miss an episode)! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketing-against-the-grain/id1616700934   If you love this show, please leave us a 5-Star Review https://link.chtbl.com/h9_sjBKH and share your favorite episodes with friends. We really appreciate your support. Host Links: Kipp Bodnar, https://twitter.com/kippbodnar   Kieran Flanagan, https://twitter.com/searchbrat  ‘Marketing Against The Grain' is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by Hubspot Media // Produced by Darren Clarke.

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS breaks down the relationship between SEO and PPC advertising. He explains that while PPC provides short-term visibility and acts as a catalyst for brand awareness, SEO builds the long-term foundation that makes ads more cost-effective. Favour emphasizes that these two strategies should not be siloed; instead, they must work together. By ranking organically for specific keywords, businesses can lower their ad spend for those same keywords. The conversation also touches on the importance of content pillars, Google Search Console, and the value of organizing your digital assets to prevent overwhelm.Who is this for?Business owners, digital marketers, and entrepreneurs looking to understand the differences and synergies between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. It's highly valuable for anyone wanting to build a sustainable, long-term marketing strategy while leveraging short-term wins through paid ads.Key Moments & Timestamps01:42 — The Core Difference: Understanding SEO (Search Engine Optimization) vs. SEM/PPC (Search Engine Marketing).03:34 — Short-Term vs. Long-Term: Why PPC is for short-term wins and SEO is for long-term sustainability.06:00 — The Synergy: How ranking organically for a keyword lowers the cost of bidding on that same keyword in ads.11:10 — Cross-Platform Strategy: Connecting your website to Google Search Console and Pinterest to build domain authority.32:47 — Tracking Success: Using Google Alerts and Search Console to track brand mentions and backlinks.107:41 — Final Takeaway: Organize your content pillars and don't feel overwhelmed by the technical aspects of SEO.FAQsQ: Should I focus on SEO or PPC first?A: You should focus on SEO first to build a strong foundation. PPC is a catalyst that drives immediate traffic, but if your website isn't optimized organically, you will end up paying higher costs per click over time.Q: How long does it take for ads to mature?A: Depending on the platform, it typically takes 7 to 28 days for an ad campaign to exit the learning phase and mature based on the target audience.Q: How do SEO and ads work together?A: When you rank organically for a specific keyword (e.g., "real estate planning") on your website, Google recognizes your authority. When you run ads for that same keyword, your cost per click is often lower because the destination link is highly relevant and authoritative.Action StepsBuild Your Foundation: Ensure your website is connected to Google Search Console so search engines can index your pages.Align Your Keywords: Use the same keywords in your organic content (URLs, titles) that you plan to bid on in your PPC campaigns.Set Up Alerts: Use Google Alerts to track when your brand or business is mentioned online to monitor your growing authority.Organize Content Pillars: Structure your website content into clear pillars and clusters to make it easier for both users and search engines to navigate.Book a Consultation: Reach out to Favour at info@playinc.online or favour@playinc.online to hire his SEO agency and streamline your digital marketing strategy.Ready to Rank? Book Your SEO & Web Dev Services Today