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/

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

In this episode of Search With Sean, I’m joined by Mike King, founder and CEO of iPullRank, founder of SEO Week, and one of the most respected voices in the search industry. Mike is an award-winning marketing technologist, regular BrightonSEO speaker, and someone who has spent years researching how search engines and AI systems actually work.

We discuss how AI is fundamentally changing search, why websites may become more like data sources for AI agents, and why SEOs need to think beyond traditional optimisation tactics.

Mike shares his thoughts on relevance engineering, agentic RAG, machine media, AI visibility measurement, structured data, experimentation, automation, and why the future of SEO requires marketers to become more strategic and cross-functional.

Mike discusses:

- Why websites are becoming centralised data stores for AI systems

- How content could be delivered through different formats and interfaces

- The rise of "machine media" and creating content for bots

- Why AI search should be viewed differently from traditional search

- Measuring AI visibility beyond rankings and traffic

- The importance of share of voice, citations and entity signals

- Why LLM tracking needs consistent methodologies

- Why SEOs need to move beyond checklist SEO

- What relevance engineering means and why it goes beyond SEO

- Reverse engineering AI systems to understand how they work

- Why experimentation will become increasingly important

- The future of agentic commerce and AI assistants

Topics covered:

- Will websites become data sources for AI agents?

- How brands will interact with users in an AI-first world

- Content becoming multidimensional across formats and platforms

- Creating content for machines as well as humans

- The difference between Google’s ecosystem and AI platforms

- Preparing websites for AI agents, APIs and protocols

- Why structured data and accessibility matter more than ever

- How organisations should prepare for AI search

- Measuring AI search success through three different buckets: Performance measurement / Brand measurement / Input measurement

- Why citation accuracy and share of voice matter

- The challenges of measuring AI visibility

- Why no SEO tool is perfectly accurate

- Profound, AI search tracking and the future of measurement

- Why AI search is bigger than SEO

- How Reddit, YouTube, digital PR and other channels create content surface area

- Why SEOs need to become more strategic marketers

- Moving from tactics towards business outcomes

- What relevance engineering means

- Why SEO is becoming a broader discipline

- Reverse engineering Google's AI Overviews and RAG systems

- How Mike built Raggle to understand SGE before launch

- Why chunking and content structure matter for retrieval systems

- Managing bot activity and using log files

- Why 499 errors could impact AI visibility

- Automation, vibe coding and the future SEO workflow

- Hyper-personalisation and the future of search

- Agentic commerce and AI-powered purchasing

Connect With Mike - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkingphilly/

Relevant Link - https://searchengineland.com/how-search-generative-experience-works-and-why-retrieval-augmented-generation-is-our-future-433393

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 Chat With Sean, I’m joined by Liv Day, Client Partner at Digitaloft, an award-winning SEO agency, and a speaker at events including BrightonSEO. Liv has a background in SEO strategy and digital PR, helping brands navigate the changing search landscape and build stronger online visibility.

We discuss how SEO is changing in the age of AI search, why brands need to rethink how they measure success, and why authority, trust and brand visibility are becoming more important than ever.

Liv shares insights from working directly with clients, including why Google is no longer always rewarding hyper-specific pages, why SEOs need to trust the SERPs over assumptions, and how AI platforms are surfacing content in ways that challenge traditional SEO thinking.

We also look at digital PR’s growing role in AI visibility, how brands can build stronger entities across the web, communicating SEO changes to stakeholders, reporting beyond traffic, and what the future of agentic commerce could look like.

Liv discusses:

- Moving from SEO Lead to Client Partner and staying close to the work

- Why staying hands-on with SEO matters

- How Google’s results are changing compared to traditional SEO thinking

- Why brands should focus on what Google actually rewards

- The growing importance of EEAT, authority and trust

- Why digital PR is becoming essential in an AI search world

- How brands can build stronger recognition across platforms

- Communicating SEO performance changes to stakeholders

- Moving beyond traffic as the main SEO metric

- The future of AI shopping and agentic commerce

Topics covered:

- Creating a role that keeps experienced SEOs close to strategy and execution

- The challenge of SEO careers becoming more management-focused

- Why practical SEO experience still matters

- Google rewarding broader pages over hyper-specific content

- When granular category pages work and when they don’t

- Trusting SERP data instead of relying on outdated SEO playbooks

- How AI search is surfacing deeper and more specific URLs

- Balancing SEO requirements with user experience needs

- Why not every page needs to exist purely for Google traffic

- Digital PR as a key strategy for AI visibility

- How ChatGPT can cite recent media coverage quickly

- Building consistent brand messaging across the internet

- Why brands need a clear understanding of who they are

- Entity building and how AI models understand brands

- Managing changing brand positioning

- Explaining traffic drops caused by AI Overviews

- Why revenue and conversions matter more than vanity metrics

- Using context and data when reporting SEO performance

- The dangers and benefits of SEO dashboards

- Creating better SEO reporting for different stakeholders

- Understanding brand competitors vs SEO competitors

- Why SERPs reveal your true online competition

- The future of agentic commerce

- How AI shopping experiences could change ecommerce

- Why AI adoption will differ by audience and industry

- Building brands across every channel, not just search

Connect With Liv - https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-day-seo/

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 Chat With Sean, I’m joined by Lau Miguez, freelance international digital PR specialist and international speaker at conferences including BrightonSEO. Lau specialises in creating digital PR campaigns across different markets, with a particular focus on understanding cultural differences, media landscapes and what makes stories resonate locally.

In this conversation, we look at what it really takes to run successful international digital PR campaigns, why translating content is not enough, and how brands need to understand cultures, communities and local media landscapes to earn meaningful coverage.

Lau shares how she researches different markets, why Reddit and communities can reveal valuable audience insights, how journalists differ across regions, and why the best campaigns come from understanding people rather than simply adapting the same story globally.

We also discuss AI’s impact on digital PR, why original data and human expertise are becoming more valuable, how brands can create campaigns that AI cannot easily replicate, and why quality outreach will matter more than ever.

Lau discusses:

- What life looks like as an international digital PR freelancer

- Why international PR requires more than translation

- Understanding cultures, subcultures and local communities

- How to research new markets before launching campaigns

- Why Reddit can reveal what audiences genuinely care about

- Working with journalists across different countries

- Why original data creates stronger digital PR campaigns

- How AI is changing content creation and outreach

- Why human expertise and real experiences matter more than ever

- Adapting global campaigns for local relevance

Topics covered:

- The reality of freelance international digital PR

- Working around the news cycle and reactive opportunities

- Prioritising campaigns when unexpected stories emerge

- Preparing commentary before major news events

- Researching international markets and audiences

- Using Reddit, social media and local publications for insights

- Why countries are not one single audience

- Understanding regions, communities and subcultures

- Cultural differences in media consumption

- Working with local journalists and understanding their preferences

- Why speaking the language is not enough for international campaigns

- Using experts to sense-check ideas before launch

- Creating data-led digital PR campaigns

- Why original research is becoming more valuable in an AI world

- How AI struggles with unpublished data and unique insights

- Combining data, expert commentary and case studies

- Why human stories create stronger media coverage

- Avoiding AI-generated press releases

- The importance of quality over quantity in outreach

- Adapting global campaigns for different markets

- Why some campaigns succeed in one country but fail in another

- Building digital PR strategies around local relevance

Connect With Lau - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lau-miguez/

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 Chat With Sean, I’m joined by Dave Cousin, a high-end SEO and organic search consultant with over 20 years of experience. Dave specialises in technical SEO, migrations and helping agencies and in-house teams solve complex search challenges.

In this conversation, we discuss how websites need to evolve for AI search, why AI accessibility is becoming increasingly important, and how technical SEO fundamentals remain critical as search engines and AI systems change.

Dave explains the difference between visible, hidden and non-visible content, how LLMs access websites, why server-side rendering matters, and how businesses can audit whether AI systems can properly access and understand their content.

We also discuss future-proofing website migrations, AI agents interacting with websites, WebMCP, crawling challenges, log file analysis, and why SEOs need to understand how these systems actually work rather than simply follow tactics.

Finally, we discuss green SEO, website efficiency and the role SEOs can play in helping organisations reduce the environmental impact of their digital presence.

Dave discusses:

- What AI accessibility means for websites

- How LLMs, ChatGPT and other AI systems access content

- Visible text vs hidden content and why it matters

- Why server-side rendering is becoming increasingly important

- How to future-proof SEO migrations

- Preparing websites for AI agents and new protocols

- Why technical SEO fundamentals still matter

- How SEOs should approach new AI recommendations

- The role of green SEO and sustainable websites

Topics covered:

- Hidden content, visible content and AI accessibility

- How LLMs read HTML source code compared with search engines

- Rendering, DOMs and JavaScript challenges

- Testing pages using Screaming Frog and Sitebulb

- Google’s AI SEO guidance and what it really means

- GEO, AEO and whether they are still just SEO

- Why unique content and perspectives matter more in AI search

- Future-proofing migrations for AI requirements

- Choosing flexible CMS platforms and website architecture

- APIs, endpoints and preparing websites for AI agents

- Agentic commerce and the future of e-commerce websites

- OAuth, authentication and AI accessing user accounts

- AI accessibility audits

- Checking whether AI bots are blocked by firewalls or robots.txt

- Using log files to analyse AI crawler behaviour

- ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity web fetching

- Browser-based AI agents and website usability

- WebMCP and the future of AI interactions

- Green SEO, sustainable hosting and website efficiency

- Avoiding quick SEO tactics and understanding why things work

Connect With Dave - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davecousin/

Related Links - https://algorythmic.co/llm-content-visibility-scanner/ - https://brightonseo.com/training

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 Chat With Sean, I’m joined by Paul Sullivan, founder and Chief Strategist at Arise GTM, published author of Go-To-Market Uncovered, and an expert in helping B2B SaaS, fintech and service organisations improve their go-to-market approach. Paul brings experience across technology, revenue, marketing and strategy, having previously held roles including CTO, CRO and CMO.

In this conversation, we look at the changing relationship between SEO, AEO and AI search, why businesses need to focus less on chasing tools and more on building genuine authority, and how answer engines are changing the way potential customers discover solutions.

Paul shares his experience of being cited by LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity, why highly specific commercial content matters, and why organisations need to understand that AI can amplify expertise — but cannot replace it.

We also discuss the future of go-to-market strategy, AI agents, SaaS consolidation, why businesses struggle with fragmented teams and technology, and why understanding the customer lifecycle is becoming increasingly important.

Paul discusses:

- Why AEO is different from traditional SEO

- Why businesses should be cautious of AI visibility tools and vanity metrics

- How he has achieved citations in LLMs through authority and expertise

- Why commercial intent matters more than chasing traffic volume

- The importance of experience, methodology and unique insights

- Why AI should enhance expertise rather than replace human judgement

- How AI agents could transform SEO and marketing workflows

- Why fragmented teams and disconnected technology hold businesses back

- The future of SaaS, AI tools and go-to-market strategy

Topics covered:

- SEO vs AEO: what is actually changing?

- Why buying more AI search tools may not solve visibility problems

- The problem with overwhelming SEO and AEO recommendations

- Measuring AI visibility and why context matters

- How CEOs are discovering businesses through LLMs

- Building authority around specific business problems

- Why generic content is becoming less valuable

- The shift from informational traffic to commercial conversations

- Long-tail searches vs genuine answer-engine optimisation

- E-E-A-T, expertise and building trust across multiple channels

- Why AI needs human experience to create valuable content

- The importance of brand management and entity building

- Cleaning up websites, removing outdated content and improving focus

- Log files, crawling and making sure bots discover the right pages

- Why not all traffic is valuable traffic

- Bottom-of-funnel SEO and attracting higher-quality leads

- AI agents and the future of automated optimisation

- Moving from AI copilots to AI systems that learn and act

- Why human oversight remains essential with AI workflows

- SaaS tools, AI adoption and the future of software

- Breaking down marketing, sales and technology silos

- Understanding the customer lifecycle

- Why businesses need aligned go-to-market strategies

Connect With Paul - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulsullivan6/

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/