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

Julia Bocchese has spent nearly nine years helping small businesses in the creative and holistic space get found online — not through paid ads or social media grind, but through SEO, Pinterest strategy, and now AI search optimization. She also teaches SEO at the college level, which gives her a rare ability to break down the technical into the practical. In this conversation, Julia unpacks why Pinterest is one of the most underused traffic channels for small businesses, how to think about AI as a discovery platform, and what she actually looks at when a client hands her a site to fix.

Julia is the founder of Julia Renee Consulting, a Philadelphia-based consultancy serving creative and holistic small businesses — interior designers, photographers, midwives, therapists, and more. She offers SEO services, Pinterest strategy and management, blog and content optimization, and AI search (AEO) services. She also teaches SEO at the college level — without textbooks, because anything printed a year ago is already out of date.

• Pinterest as a search engine: Why Julia treats Pinterest with the same keyword discipline as Google — and why most businesses are leaving long-lived traffic on the table by ignoring it.
• The longevity advantage: Julia has clients with pins from 2009 that still drive traffic. The math on why Pinterest content compounds while social posts expire.
• Unexpected Pinterest niches: A niche Olympic swim training company with zero Pinterest competition. A Swiss boarding school. Luxury yachts. Why the "I'm not visual enough" objection almost never holds.
• Video pins done right: Audio is muted by default. Talking-head videos underperform. What actually works — and how it differs completely from Instagram.
• The Pinterest-Google double dip: Julia regularly sees Pinterest boards and individual pins ranking in Google SERPs for the same keywords her clients are chasing organically.
• AI search optimization: Why the most important information needs to live at the top of the page, and why distributing FAQs throughout service pages outperforms a single standalone FAQ page.
• Link building for solopreneurs: How Julia helps small businesses find local placements that do double duty — links and direct audience exposure in one.
• Reporting without owning revenue: Why Julia reports on traffic quality and impressions rather than conversions she can't control.
• The biggest SEO trap right now: Writing for bots instead of the humans who are actually going to pay you.
• On-page quick wins: Julia's five-point checklist when she takes on a new site — including the location-in-the-footer problem she sees on almost every local business site.

On why she teaches without textbooks:

"I don't give my students textbooks. Anything printed a year ago is already out of date in SEO. The syllabus changes throughout the semester as new findings come out — the class can look totally different from one year to the next."

On why Pinterest belongs in your strategy:

"People aren't going to Pinterest to follow people. They're searching for information. That's why I focus on it alon...

What if the biggest SEO opportunity for most businesses isn't a new tool, a new tactic, or a new algorithm hack — it's simply showing up consistently and claiming your authority?

In this episode of the Unscripted SEO Podcast, Jeremy Rivera sits down with Jason Wade, founder of Ninja AI and an expert in AI visibility architecture, GEO, and AEO. They go deep on what it actually means to engineer your entity, why most SEOs are still running 2015 playbooks, and why one podcast episode can outperform a year of blogging.

Here's Jason's recap of this Unscripted SEO episode

• What 'AI visibility' means and why GEO/AEO is really just visibility engineering
• Entity optimization: how AI systems recognize authority — and how you train them
• The content multiplication math: one podcast → 50 assets
• Why most businesses have never actually said what they do on their website
• How Google's core algorithm updates have punished hacking and rewarded authenticity
• The Office Space test: 'What would you say you do here?' — applied to your homepage
• Why Reddit and podcasts rank instantly compared to traditional SEO timelines
• E-E-A-T in practice: showing up, speaking up, and having others verify it

“If a company can take that friction away and do the stuff they won't do — that's where the magic is.” — Jason Wade

“One podcast could become 50 assets. One podcast.” — Jason Wade

“You're training the system in the easiest way possible — by simply showing up.” — Jason Wade

“Your content gap analysis should be: what are all the competitors missing that you can provide?” — Jeremy Rivera

• Guest: Jason Wade —

ninjaai.com | jasonwade.com | LinkedIn

Services: AI Visibility | GEO | AEO | AI SEO Strategies

Article: 25 Local SEO Tips — AI Upgrade

Host: Jeremy Rivera | SEO Arcade | Unscripted SEO Podcast

More from SEO Arcade: Podcast-Based Link Building Service | Entity Optimization with Jason Barnard

Like what you heard? Subscribe, leave a review, and share with an SEO who needs to hear this. And if you want to explore how podcast-based SEO services could multiply your content and backlinks — schedule a call at SEOArcade.com.

Stephan Bajaio — CEO and co-founder of Vibe Logic, former co-founder of Conductor, and ex-CMO — joins Jeremy Rivera on the Unscripted SEO Podcast for one of the most candid conversations we've had about why the SEO industry keeps losing the narrative about itself — and what practitioners can actually do about it.

Stephan built his career from the dot-com era through to co-founding one of the largest enterprise SEO platforms ever built. He's seen the industry from every angle — agency, platform, C-suite — and he doesn't pull punches about where we've gone wrong or how to fix it.

• Why the GEO / AIO naming debate is a symptom of a bigger identity problem — and why fixing it starts with SEOs, not executives
• What SEO actually is when you strip away the jargon: connecting organizational wisdom to the audience that needs it
• The lonely island problem — why even great SEOs fail when the content team, dev team, and CMO aren't aligned
• How conflicting KPIs create internal friction and a practical approach to working with — not against — the people who control execution
• Why the best keyword research is a conversation — Jeremy's concrete-wall installer example and how to build content from real expert interviews
• Content value beyond organic traffic — why reporting only on organic is leaving most of the story untold
• Vibe Logic's 'web presence intelligence' framework and the concept of being where decisions are formed, not just where they're made
• Why passion is the one trait in great SEOs you simply cannot teach

In this episode of the Unscripted SEO Podcast, host Jeremy Rivera sits down with Brandon Leibowitz, founder of SEO Optimizers — a full-service digital marketing agency based in Los Angeles. With nearly two decades of experience in SEO, paid ads, social media, and coaching, Brandon shares his grounded, practitioner-level take on the AI search landscape and what actually moves the needle.

• How AI-powered search surfaces (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot) are — and aren’t — changing SEO workflow
• Why schema markup is the highest-leverage technical tactic for AI visibility
• The difference between informational and transactional AI search behavior
• A page-by-page schema architecture strategy for e-commerce and service sites
• How to use competitor schema analysis as a gap-finding tactic
• Why content + backlinks + technical SEO must all work together

“The AI overview is just a featured snippet — just a new way to rebrand it for Google. The old tactics, the old strategies already worked.” — Brandon Leibowitz

“The more touch points you have and more places people find you, the more likely they are to want your product or service in the future.” — Brandon Leibowitz

• SEO Optimizers — Brandon’s agency
• Free Gift + Classes from Brandon
• Free Website SEO Analysis
• Google Search Console
• Ahrefs
• Brandon on LinkedIn
• Unscripted SEO Podcast
• Jeremy Rivera – About

Website: seooptimizers.com

Free Gift: seooptimizers.com/gift

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brandonleibowitz

The Unscripted SEO Podcast is hosted by Jeremy Rivera, SEO consultant and founder of SEO Arcade. Each episode features candid, unscripted conversations with leading SEO practitioners, agency founders, and digital marketing veterans.

Greg Merrilees is the founder of Studio1 Design — a conversion-focused website agency that has designed for over 2,000 businesses worldwide, including Hollywood A-listers like Sylvester Stallone. He’s the author of Next Level Website Design and has been building websites since 2009.

In this episode, Jeremy Rivera sits down with Greg to tackle whether websites are still relevant, how to build for searcher intent, why copywriting beats design every time, and what the rise of AI vibe coding actually means for your brand.

• Do you really need a website in 2025? Greg’s nuanced take on social media vs. owned assets
• The cold / warm / hot traffic model and how to match your CTA to intent
• Why Microsoft Clarity should be on every website (and how it compares to Hotjar)
• Website design trends to avoid in 2026 — and what converts instead
• How to find your unique positioning in a commoditized niche
• Interactive lead magnets vs. PDF downloads — what actually converts today
• The AI sameness problem: why vibe-coded websites all look the same

• Studio1 Design — Greg’s agency
• Next Level Website Design (Book)
• Free Resources — Custom GPT + book companion
• Microsoft Clarity — Free heatmaps & session recording
• Enterprise Fitness (macro calculator example)
• Yoshua Law (case study)
• Greg’s email: greg@studio1design.com
• Connect with Jeremy Rivera
• SEO Arcade — Podcast-based content marketing & link building

• Don’t Chase Website Design Trends in 2026
• The Hidden Cost of Fancy Website Effects: Lost Conversions
• How We Turned a Law Firm Redesign Into 60% More Conversions
• How We Boosted a Fitness Business’ Bookings By 64%
• AI Killed Your Website Strategy: Here’s What Works Now
• How to Create a Personal Brand That Attracts Dream Clients