People have been saying "SEO is dead" for over a decade. After his second trip to Brighton SEO, Craig thinks they're partly right this time, but AI isn't the main reason. Craig and Caitlin talk about what actually changed, the new job title that caught Craig off guard, and why knowing your customer matters more now than it ever has.

• Why Craig puts Google's own changes, not AI, at about 70% of what disrupted search, and why 68% of searches now end without a click
• "Marketing engineer": the new role that came out of the conference, and what it says about where marketing is going
• Caitlin's carrots-in-the-spaghetti story, and what it teaches about giving customers what they need in a form they'll actually take
• Using SparkToro to find the podcasts, publications and Reddit threads where your customers really spend their time
• The problem with conference talks: some are six months behind the tools already in your hands

The One Thing: Redo your customer research instead of working from an avatar you made four years ago. Figure out where your customers actually look for answers, whether that's Google, ChatGPT, YouTube or LinkedIn. Focus on those places and drop the rest for now.

Craig Brooks is CEO of Clarity Creative Group. Caitlin Smith is a brand designer and strategist. New episodes dropping soon. Follow Vibe Marketing wherever you listen to podcasts.