In this episode of the Unscripted Small Business Podcast, Jeremy Rivera sits down with Nick Eubanks — a 2007-vintage SEO who sold Traffic Think Tank to SEMrush, spent three years building their media program into an eight-figure-a-year operation, and is now Global CMO at Digistore24, the world's largest affiliate network with 950,000 vendors and 5 million users.

This is a veteran-to-veteran conversation about what's actually changed in SEO, what hasn't, and where the defensible opportunities still live in a world where AI has commoditized execution.

• Why Nick came out of retirement — the real story, and what buying two agencies in one week taught him about paying for experience
• Why this is the fifth time SEO has "died" — and why this one might actually stick
• The golden age of organic traffic (2010–2020) and why it's definitively over
• What the Helpful Content Update actually changed — entity graphs, distance-to-seed, brand signals in Search Console, and whether HCU was prep for AI Overviews
• Why podcasting is Jeremy's one-word answer for link building — and the strategy behind the SEO Arcade white-label podcast service
• How Digistore24's seller-of-record model handles VAT across 38 EU countries and tax nexus across all U.S. states so vendors can focus on selling
• Why affiliates are having a renaissance in the LLM era — and which social channels suddenly matter that didn't before
• The AI content workflow most agencies have completely backwards — and what the right order actually is (human brief → AI draft → human edit)
• Nick's "brand brain" concept — a layered AI pipeline: always-on brand entity → regional compliance → channel → persona, producing high-volume non-slop content at scale
• Why the pretense that agencies were doing high-quality content before AI is "a bit rich"
• "Distribution is the only remaining moat when execution becomes infinite" — and why expertise still creates some defensibility. Related: SEO Forecasting 101
• The Will Smith spaghetti litmus test for AI video quality, and what weekly improvement looks like inside a Gen.AI video agency
• Nick's GLP-1 muscle protection app — built and deployed to the App Store in 12 hours on a Sunday
• Why the barrier to building has essentially collapsed — and the new class of makers coming because of it
• The SEO Arcade origin story — Jeremy's $500 Rand Fishkin pixel fighter wizard, and how the same idea can now be done in minutes with AI

"Distribution is the only remaining moat when execution becomes infinite."— Nick Eubanks"The fast-forward button is very real. I'm so happy now to just pay for experience — things that I wish my younger version of my ego would have let me do."— Nick Eubanks"I think this is the fifth time SEO has died in my career. I do think this is actually the nail in the coffin for what SEO was originally conceived as."— Nick Eubanks

• Digistore24 — the world's largest affiliate marketplace
• Nick Eubanks on Twitter/X
• Digistore24 on Twitter/X
• agencygrowthengine.org — free agency training resources

• SEO...

Discover practical insights for expanding your business globally through international SEO, translation strategies, and regional localization, guided by expert Christina Spalding. Main topics:

• Christina's international experience and expertise in multilingual SEO
• The evolution of SEO strategies from 2009 to today, including AI influence
• Language models (LLMs) in foreign languages: accuracy, hallucinations, and verification
• Practical approaches for multilingual content, hreflang, and regional signals
• Localized links, country-specific domains, and user intent in global ranking strategies
• Market opportunities in Spanish and other language-specific regions
• Navigation of international platform nuances—server location, TLDs, and SEO efforts

Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to Christina Spalding and her international SEO background
02:12 - Evolution of SEO from 2009 to current AI-driven changes
03:36 - Impact of AI and low-quality content resurgence in SEO strategies
04:52 - How language models generate answers and their accuracy across languages
06:07 - Content volume differences across languages and implications for LLMs
07:23 - Tools like DeepL for deterministic translation and grammar refinement
08:45 - Handling context issues and verifying AI-generated content
09:36 - Using probabilistic vs. deterministic LLMs for international content
10:20 - Challenges and opportunities of SEO for exported products like handrails
11:32 - Market potentials for multilingual SEO in the US and beyond
12:58 - Keyword targeting and content creation in multiple languages
13:52 - Local demographics and visual cues for language localization
15:07 - Incorporating regional language and cultural nuances into SEO strategies
16:21 - Leveraging translation tools and native review for multilingual content
17:49 - The role and best practices for hreflang and regional signals
20:33 - Setting up hreflang, region tags, and backend configurations
22:43 - Impact of user language preference and translation accuracy on conversions
25:02 - Role of top-level domains (.de, .fr, etc.) and server location in international SEO
27:35 - Strategies for ranking in country-specific search engines like Baidu in China
30:56 - Cultural and legal considerations in international marketing and sales
33:17 - Opportunities in tourism and localized content for expat communities
36:47 - Conducting language audits and utilizing employee multilingual skills
38:33 - Connecting with Christina Spalding and further resources Resources & Links:

• Manzanita Marketing
• DeepL Translator
• Weglot translation plugin
• Baidu SEO insights
• Google hreflang documentation

Connect with Christina Spalding:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook

In this episode, Jeremy Rivera chats with Tom Malesic, founder of EZ Marketing, to explore effective digital marketing strategies tailored specifically for small businesses. Tom shares his insights on website importance, local SEO tactics, content creation, and the impact of AI on marketing.Key Topics:

• The foundational role of a high-quality, trust-building website
• Authenticity through real photos versus stock images
• Developing unique brand voice and avoiding mimicry of competitors
• Local SEO techniques, including local service pages and Google Map Pack optimization
• The importance of personalized content and FAQs for voice search
• How AI is revolutionizing content creation, video generation, and website development
• Managing geographic targeting and scaling marketing efforts based on budget
• The significance of continuous photo and video updates for local ranking
• The shift from traditional link building to mentions and citations
• Future outlook: AI advancements and their influence on small business marketing