Host: Sean Barber - https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrbarber/ - He & Him

In this episode of Chat With Sean, I’m joined once again by Emina Demiri, Head of Digital Marketing at Vixen Digital and a speaker at events including BrightonSEO.

We look at how e-commerce SEO is changing in the age of AI search, why SEOs need to understand product feeds and Merchant Center, and why breaking down silos between SEO, paid, UX and other marketing teams is becoming increasingly important.

Emina shares Vixen Digital’s approach to AI search - focusing on being discovered, cited, mentioned and ultimately purchasable and explains why consistent data across websites, schema, product feeds and marketplaces can have a direct impact on visibility and revenue.

We also discuss agentic commerce, where AI genuinely adds value to e-commerce experiences, the danger of using LLMs for the wrong use cases, and how better audience research can help marketers understand not only what people search for, but their needs, behaviours and emotional state.

Emina discusses:

- Why SEO and paid teams need to work more closely together

- The growing importance of Merchant Center and product feeds for SEO

- Being discovered, cited, mentioned and purchasable in AI search

- Breaking down silos across digital marketing teams

- Why consistent product data matters across different platforms

- How feed and schema errors can directly impact revenue

- Building e-commerce experiences around real user needs

- Where AI should and shouldn't be used in the buying journey

- Preparing e-commerce websites for agentic commerce

- Using audience research to improve marketing strategy

Topics covered:

- E-commerce SEO and AI search

- Merchant Center, product feeds and structured data

- Schema and feed alignment

- SEO and PPC collaboration

- Full-stack marketing vs specialisation

- AI, redundancies and the changing marketing job market

- Product category and product detail page UX

- Faceted navigation and customer journeys

- AI-powered product recommendations and hallucinations

- Agentic commerce and emerging AI standards

- Audience research, personas and search behaviour

- GA4, Google Search Console and qualitative data

- Reddit, reviews and social listening

- Using LLMs for audience and sentiment analysis

Related Link - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-your-product-feed-is-an-seo-asset-and-who-should-own-it/575543/

Connect With Emina - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emina-demiri/

Our partners:

SEO Gets, the easy-to-use analytics and reporting tool for your GSC & GA4 data.

Use code search10 for 10% off: https://seogets.com/

Linkavista — A backlink marketplace offering thousands of websites and real traffic insights through Google Search Console connections.

Use code SEAN10 for 10% extra credit on your first order:https://linkavista.com/

Host: Sean Barber - https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrbarber/ - He & Him

In this episode of Chat With Sean, I’m joined by Barry Adams, an award-winning SEO and audience growth consultant specialising in strategic, technical and editorial SEO, AI search and organic growth for news publishers. Barry has been building and ranking websites since 1998 and has worked with major media brands including The New York Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail and The Independent.

We look at how AI search is reshaping the publishing industry, why the days of chasing huge volumes of commodity traffic are coming to an end, and why publishers need to focus more heavily on original journalism, reader loyalty and genuine value.

Barry shares his thoughts on the future of publisher business models, subscriptions and paywalls, Google Discover, creator journalism and why publishers need to understand their audiences rather than simply broadcasting content at them.

We also discuss how publishers should measure success beyond traffic, the importance of becoming memorable rather than interchangeable, whether Google traffic is really disappearing, and why Barry believes AI search is simply another search vertical rather than an entirely new discipline.

Barry discusses:

- Why commodity content is becoming less valuable

- How AI Overviews are changing publisher traffic

- Why publishers need to return to original, quality journalism

- The shift from traffic towards loyalty and engagement

- Paywalls, subscriptions and sustainable news business models

- Why publishers need to understand their readers

- Google Discover and opportunities for niche and local publishers

- Creator journalism and building personalities around news brands

- Why unique journalism matters more than publishing volume

- Measuring publisher success beyond traffic

- Why abandoning Google would be a mistake

- AI search, GEO and the future of news SEO

Topics covered:

- AI Overviews and declining informational traffic

- Information gain and original reporting

- Rebuilding trust in news publishers

- Subscription bundles, freemium and dynamic paywalls

- LLM licensing deals with publishers

- Independent and niche journalism

- Google Discover and personalised news

- Building loyal, returning audiences

- Podcasts, video, Shorts and multi-format journalism

- Habit-forming content and user-generated content

- Traffic vs engagement, loyalty and brand sentiment

- Creating distinctive publisher brands

- Fewer articles, better journalism

- Google Zero and the future of organic traffic

- AI citations and their limited value for publishers

- Why Barry considers GEO a repackaging of SEO

Connect With Barry - https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryadams/

Thank you to our partners:

SEO Gets, the easy-to-use analytics and reporting tool for your GSC & GA4 data.

Be sure to check out the tool and use code search10 for 10% off: https://seogets.com/

Linkavista — A backlink marketplace built for SEOs who want more transparency. With access to thousands of websites, real traffic insights through Google Search Console connections, and an easier way to find relevant opportunities.

Use code SEAN10 for 10% extra credit on your first order:https://linkavista.com/

Host: Sean Barber - https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrbarber/ - He & Him

In this episode of Search With Sean, I’m joined by Daniel Liddle, SEO Director at iCrossing UK and BrightonSEO speaker, for a wide-ranging conversation about AI, SEO, the changing search landscape and where businesses should actually be focusing their attention.

We discuss why the rush to “optimise for AI” can sometimes distract businesses from the fundamentals, why AI visibility tools need to be treated with caution, and why brands should think about search as a behaviour rather than simply a Google channel.

Daniel also shares his thoughts on AI adoption inside businesses, the difference between genuine transformation and marginal efficiency gains, the importance of keeping humans in the loop, and why critical thinking could become one of the most valuable skills marketers have.

Daniel discusses:

- Why businesses shouldn’t panic about AI visibility

- Treating search as a behaviour, not just Google SEO

- Why websites and content need to deliver genuine user value

- Where AI can genuinely transform marketing workflows

- Why mass AI-generated content isn’t the answer

- The importance of human oversight and critical thinking

- How businesses should approach AEO, GEO and AI search

- Why brand authority goes beyond backlinks

- The limitations of LLM visibility tracking

- The future role of SEO teams and agencies

Topics covered:

- iCrossing’s Search Experience and Innovation (SXI) approach

- AI search and changing user behaviour

- The “flattening” of the web and copying what already ranks

- Better UX and creating websites people actually want to use

- Transformative AI vs marginal efficiency gains

- Using AI for repetitive SEO tasks such as hreflang and alt text

- AI governance, transparency and human-in-the-loop workflows

- AI content, creativity and “AI slop”- AI costs, sustainability and its wider business impact

- AEO, GEO and holistic brand visibility

- Reddit, brand perception and real-world authority

- LLM tracking, measurement and its limitations

- The changing relationship between brands, agencies and SEO

Connect With Daniel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielliddle/

Thank you to our partners:SEO Gets, the easy-to-use analytics and reporting tool for your GSC & GA4 data.

Be sure to check out the tool and use code search10 for 10% off: https://seogets.com/

Linkavista — A backlink marketplace built for SEOs who want more transparency. With access to thousands of websites, real traffic insights through Google Search Console connections, and an easier way to find relevant opportunities.

Use code SEAN10 for 10% extra credit on your first order:https://linkavista.com/