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

In this episode of Real Talk With Sean, I’m joined by Louise Linehan, Daniel Brooks and Reena Bowden for a thought-provoking conversation on the future of digital marketing, the impact of AI, and how businesses need to adapt.

We tackle some of the most pressing topics in today’s industry, including how AI is reshaping roles, the increasing complexity of communicating with the C-suite, and the risks and ethical dilemmas posed by AI-driven digital surveillance.

My Guests:Louise Linehan – https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-linehan/

Daniel Brooks – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmbrooks/

Reena Bowden – https://www.linkedin.com/in/reenabowden/

Topics Covered:

- What digital jobs will still exist by 2030 and how AI is reshaping the workforce

- The rise of new roles like content systems designers and brand evangelists as responses to AI

- Shifting communication strategies: How to effectively engage the C-suite in the age of AI

- Best practices for communicating the value of SEO and AI visibility to top executives

- The fine line between digital surveillance and privacy: How much is too much?

- The ethical challenges of AI in marketing: Managing trust and transparency in AI-generated content

- Will AI ever replace the creative and human side of marketing? Exploring the future of AI-driven creativity

Get curated digital marketing news and essential channel updates sent directly to you via Whatsapp - https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbB9zsvAe5VlZK5gmt1V

In this episode of Real Talk With Sean, I’m joined by Marc Sirkin, Lottie Namakando, Jack Lingard, and Ellie Wraith for an insightful, no-holds-barred discussion on the rapidly evolving world of SEO, AI, and digital marketing. We look into how AI is reshaping the industry, the future of education in an AI-driven world, and the skills that will matter most as we move forward. From the value of university degrees to the rise of AI agents, this episode covers it all, offering expert perspectives on what’s next in the digital space.

My Guests

Marc Sirkin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcsirkin/

Lottie Namakando – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lottie-n-1485423b/

Jack Lingard – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-lingard/

Ellie Wraith – https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliewraith/

Topics Covered:

- Is university still relevant in an AI-first world?

- The value of soft skills vs. technical expertise

- Can AI replace traditional learning and execution in digital marketing?

- The rise of AI-driven marketing tools and their limitations

- How digital marketing agencies are adapting to AI advancements

- The human side of AI: judgment, creativity, and strategy

- Will AI agents take over the digital marketing space?

- The challenges of validating AI-driven content

- The singularity: Are we already living in it? What does it mean for AI and marketing?

In this special panel show, I’m joined by an expert panel of voices in healthcare and digital marketing to discuss the growing influence of AI in healthcare. From the ethical concerns of AI-driven medical advice to the challenges of ensuring accurate and trustworthy information, we dive into how AI models like ChatGPT and Claude are reshaping the way patients access healthcare information online.

Our panel includes:

Sophie Randall, Director at Patient Information Forum (PIF)

Dr. James Davidson, Founder at MedCourse & White Coat SEO

Sarah Pokorná, CMO at HealthyLine | Co-Founder at Impulse Riot

Geoff Meakin, Healthcare SEO Consultant

Roger Donald, Head of Digital, Web Services at NHS England

Gavin Williams, Clinical Health Writer

Topics covered include:

- The ethical challenges of using AI for medical information

- The psychological impacts of AI-driven health searches

- How healthcare providers and professionals are adapting to AI

- Managing trust and transparency in AI-generated health advice

- The future of structured data, health literacy, and the role of government regulation

Connect with the panellists:

Sophie Randall - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-randall-b005017/

Dr. James Davidson - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-davidson-wcseo/

Sarah Pokorná - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-pokorna/

Geoff Meakin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-meakin/

Roger Donald - https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-donald-5a7a535/

Gavin Williams - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-williams-health/

Filmed On: 22nd January 2026

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

In this episode of Real Talk With Sean, I’m joined by Christian Goodrich, Katie Stone, Emma Russell and Anthony Barone for a wide-ranging, no-filter conversation on where SEO, AI, search, media and digital trust are really heading as we move toward 2026.

We unpack what’s genuinely changing (and what isn’t), why some legacy models are under serious pressure, and how marketers, brands and publishers need to adapt - without chasing every new acronym or hype cycle.

About My Guests

Christian Goodrich – Head of Search Marketing & AI Search at SOZO

Katie Stone – Director of SEO at TrendyMinds

Emma Russell – Founder of Oxford Comma Digital

Anthony Barone – Co-founder of StudioHawk UK

Topics Covered:

Whether paid SEO tools still justify their cost in an AI-first world

Tool overload, subscription fatigue, and why many teams aren’t maximising what they already pay for

The rise of custom AI workflows vs legacy SEO platforms

What agentic AI could mean for search, e-commerce and lead generation

How branding, loyalty and trust change when AI intermediates decisions

Why websites may become “infrastructure” rather than the primary brand surface

Zero-click search, AI summaries and the shifting value of organic traffic

The future of news publishers in a world of AI answers and independent creators

Why YouTube, podcasts and social platforms are becoming primary news sources

Trust, bias, echo chambers and the dangers of over-personalised algorithms

Social media bans for under-16s: public safety vs free speech

Where responsibility really sits — platforms, governments or parents

What all of this means for SEOs, marketers and digital teams right now

In this episode of Real Talk With Sean, I’m joined by Celeste Gonzalez, Garrett Sussman, Serge Nguele and Ryan Jones for an honest look at what’s actually changing in SEO and digital marketing and what the landscape might look like by summer 2026.About my guests - Celeste Gonzalez - The director of RooLabs at RicketyRoo IncGarrett Sussman - The director of Marketing at iPullRankSerge Nguele - The founder of Your PPC DoctorRyan Jones - The Marketing manager at SEO TestingWe discuss the following:- How AI Overviews, AI Mode and multimodal search are reshaping user journeys - Why personalisation, trust signals and brand building matter more than ever in search- How listicles, citations and reputation still influence AI answers and where the line sits between fair play and gaming the system- Whether Google will really make AI Mode the default, and why the answer depends on ads, revenue and user trust- What PPC’s shift toward AI Max means for marketers, budgets and campaign control - The rising influence of TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and local communities in search behaviour- How brands can prepare for agentic AI without losing sight of human decision-making- Why diversification across channels (including Microsoft Ads) is becoming essential rather than optional

How is SEO really changing in 2025? In this episode of Real Talk With Sean, I’m joined by Liv Day, Gerry White, and Itamar Blauer to look at the biggest shifts in digital marketing.We look at:- The impact of Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode- Why old-school tactics like listicles are making a comeback- How brand building is more crucial than ever in search- Whether challenger brands still have a chance against established players-- Where SEOs should focus when resources are tight - from Reddit to YouTube to TikTokIt’s a straight-talking, no-nonsense look at what’s working, what isn’t, and where search is headed next.About my guests - Itamar Blauer – Senior SEO Director at StudioHawk and host of the SEO Unplugged podcast.Liv Day – SEO Lead at creative search agency Digitaloft.Gerry White – Influential SEO consultant, recently described as an “unconventional innovator.”Related Link - https://www.searchwithsean.com/post/navigating-seo-ai-in-2025-trends-tools-and-the-future-survey-resultshttps://www.searchwithsean.com/

In this special episode, I’m joined by Emilija Gjorgjevska, Gus Pelogia, Tom Winter, and Sara Taher for a discussion on vibe coding, the fast-emerging approach to building tools, automations and workflows using natural language and AI.We break down how SEOs can now “code without coding,” why logic and system thinking are more important than syntax, and how to avoid the trap of automating things you don’t understand. This episode is packed with practical examples, tool recommendations, and honest reflections on what’s working (and what’s not) in the world of AI and SEO.Topics include:- What is vibe coding - and how is it changing SEO development?- AI agents, embeddings, clustering, and automation without being a developer- The difference between real innovation vs “LLM wrappers”- Open source tools, internal linking graphs, and building SOPs with AI- How SEOs at every level can start experimenting with AI workflowsHuge thanks to my fantastic guests:Emilija Gjorgjevska – https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilijagjorgjevska/ https://github.com/martech-engineer/WebKnoGraphhttps://github.com/seontology/seontologyGus Pelogia – https://www.linkedin.com/in/gpelogia/Tom Winter – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-winter/ & https://seowind.io/Sara Taher – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-seo-specialist/ & https://www.sara-taher.com/Tools Discussed:ChatGPT - https://chatgpt.com/Claude Code - https://www.anthropic.com/claude-codePerplexity - https://www.perplexity.ai/Gemini (Google) - https://gemini.google.com/appGoogle AI Studio - https://aistudio.google.com/prompts/new_chatNotebookLM - https://notebooklm.google.com/Replit - https://replit.com/Streamlit - https://streamlit.io/Relay.App - https://www.relay.app/Screaming Frog - https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/Zapier - https://zapier.com/Google Colab - https://colab.research.google.com/GitHub -https://github.com/Related Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZiPEOFnK1ohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWrH8oop8RU&t=1979s

In this episode, I’m joined by SEO experts Yordan Dimitrov, Nikki Halliwell, Mark Williams-Cook, and Dave Cousin to explore some of the biggest questions in the world of digital marketing right now.

We dig into the real challenges SEOs face today - from conflicting advice and overhyped strategies to the value (or not) of backlinks and SEO tools in 2025.

We also discussed -

- What SEO advice is still worth following - and what should we ignore?

- Is SEO becoming overpriced or misunderstood by clients and businesses?

- What role will websites actually play in the next 3 - 4 years?

It’s a mix of straight-talking insights, industry experience, and a look ahead at where digital marketing is going. I really enjoyed recording this one - big thanks again to my fantastic guests for sharing their time and insights.

About my guests -

Dave Cousin - Founder of Dave the SEO & Co. Dave is a high end SEO & Organic Search Consultant and Trainer. Bringing 20 years of experience to the table!

Mark Williams-Cook - Digital Marketing Director at digital agency Candour and founder of AlsoAsked.

Nikki Halliwell - Senior Technical SEO Manager at Journey Further, co founder of TechSEO North and she also has a great newsletter!

Yordan Dimitrov - Currently SEO Manager at digital marketing agency Reflect Digital and soon to be Brighton SEO speaker!

https://www.searchwithsean.com/