Advertise on podcast: SEO Rockstars

Guillermo Bravo speaks with Ryan Klein (CEO of Market My Market) to discuss the radical shift in digital marketing for law firms and professional services. With 14 years in the "legal SEO trenches," Klein explains why the traditional SEO playbook—once focused solely on keywords and high-volume content—is fundamentally breaking in the age of AI. The conversation dives deep into the reality of zero-click searches, where over 50% of users find their answers directly on the search engine results page (SERP) without ever visiting a website. Klein argues that for agencies to survive, they must transition from "ranking-focused" SEO to "outcome-focused" strategies that prioritize lead quality and attribution over vanity metrics.

In this episode, host Guillermo Bravo interviews Aarti Birdi, founder of CDX, to explore why B2B companies are struggling to maintain authority in an AI-driven landscape. Birdi, who transitioned from a background in genetics to marketing, explains how her "research and content lab" uses lived expertise and emotional resonance to combat the "stiff" corporate jargon that often plagues enterprise content. Birdi argues that as organic click-through rates decline, the only way to earn trust and rank on AI overviews is to provide genuine, human-centric insights that automated bots simply cannot replicate.

Industry pioneer Daron Babin, known in SEO circles as SEGuru, details his career trajectory from a technical producer at NBC to a digital marketing visionary who began practicing SEO in 1994. After a "light bulb" moment at a TV newsroom regarding the power of search intent, Babin co-founded Webmaster Radio (now WMR.FM) in 2004, scaling it into the premier online network for digital marketers before eventually selling it. His career is defined by merging high-level media production with search expertise, having launched Cannabis Radio and now focusing on AI-powered automation through The Buzz CRM.

In this powerful return episode of SEO Rockstars, Ben Fisher from Steady Demand reveals the harsh realities every local business owner needs to hear. From massive Google Business Profile suspensions that can wipe out 70% of a company’s revenue overnight to AI (Gemini) wildly misinterpreting reviews and turning positive comments into business-killing negatives, Ben shares hard-won war stories — including a major locksmith brand with 12 locations suspended and a comedy club confused with a church two states away. He breaks down what actually works in 2026: crafting airtight reinstatement narratives, understanding back-end Google signals, avoiding review manipulation traps, and why schema + consistent entity signals matter more than ever as AI Overviews reshape local search. Ben also shares his bold predictions on Gemini’s dominance and warns about the coming AI disruption to the entire SEO industry.

In this episode of the SEO Rockstars Podcast, host Guillermo Bravo sits down with Jordan Koene, CEO and Founder of Previsible, to discuss the radical shifts defining search in 2026. Koene introduces the critical concept of "grounding"—the process by which AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini source and cite web content to formulate responses. Moving beyond traditional rankings, Koene explains why "citations" are the new gold standard for brand authority and warns of "perception drift," where AI models misrepresent brands by clinging to outdated historical data.

In this episode of the SEO Rockstars Podcast, host Guillermo Bravo catches up with Ivy Boyter, founder of Full Throttle SEO, to break down why the old playbooks are failing in an AI-driven world. Ivy shares her "Search Everywhere Optimization" philosophy, urging brands to stop obsessing over Google alone and start appearing where people actually ask questions—whether that’s on LinkedIn, TikTok, or within LLMs like ChatGPT. With a "no-nonsense" approach rooted in her background as a blogger and entrepreneur, she discusses the emerging "trust recession" and why human-first, unique content is the only way to escape the "vanilla" trap of AI-generated filler.

In this episode of the SEO Rockstars podcast, host Guillermo Bravo sits down with industry veteran Jeff Ferguson, CEO of Amplitude Digital, to dismantle the persistent myths haunting the search industry. Ferguson argues that while AI and "zero-click" searches are often treated as "climate change" level threats, they are primarily interface shifts that don't change the foundational "three buckets" of SEO: content, architecture, and authority. They highlight a major shift in the digital landscape—moving away from the "SEO specialist" as a standalone role toward a more holistic integration where search is simply a tool in a broader marketing arsenal.

In this episode of the SEO Rockstars podcast, host Guillermo Bravo sits down with Yoast SEO founder Joost De Valk to discuss his transition from a high-level operator to a passionate investor and founder. Following his full exit from Yoast in 2023, Joost shares his renewed focus on open-source sustainability through Ameliah Capital and his latest venture, Progress Planner, which he describes as "Duolingo for websites." They dive deep into the shifting landscape of digital marketing, where de Valk argues that despite the rapid rise of AI and generative engine optimization, the core of success remains "holistic marketing"—prioritizing user experience, brand consistency, and authentic human connection over technical gimmicks and "AI slop."

In this episode of the SEO Rockstars podcast, host Guillermo Bravo reunites with long-time colleague Samer Alkass (Director of Search at Aerosvit) to discuss the complexities of managing SEO across hundreds of locations. They moves beyond basic optimization to focus on structural integrity, emphasizing that a scalable data model and logical URL hierarchy (State > City > Locale) must precede design and content. Samer shares expert insights on leveraging automation and AI to handle enterprise-level volume without losing brand uniqueness, while highlighting the importance of balancing new customer acquisition with sophisticated retention strategies.

Guillermo Bravo sits down with industry veteran Craig Campbell to discuss the evolving landscape of search engine optimization. With over two decades of experience, Campbell emphasizes that while AI is reshaping content creation, the foundational "basics"—link building, authority, and trust signals—remain the essential drivers of success. He shares his "vulture" strategy for acquiring and flipping undervalued websites, cautions against the common pitfalls of impatience and under-investment, and explains how he applies his marketing expertise to diverse niches like e-commerce and high-value sports trading cards.

Growth strategist Eli Schwartz explains why SEO must shift from a technical checklist to a core business driver. He introduces the concept of Product-Led SEO, using examples like Zillow to show how building high-value digital assets—rather than just "programmatic" spam—creates a sustainable competitive moat. Schwartz also addresses the rise of AI in search, noting that personal context and AI Overviews make foundational SEO more critical than ever. He concludes with advice for SEO leaders: earn executive trust by aligning every search effort with revenue and lead generation rather than just traffic metrics.

In this episode of the SEO Rockstars podcast, Guillermo Bravo talks with Matthew Shterenberg, founder of Deep Roots, to strip away the fluff of modern search marketing and focus on what actually drives the bottom line. Shterenberg argues that for local retail businesses like cannabis dispensaries, the path to a 20-30% increase in new customer sales lies in dominating the "local pack" for high-intent "near me" searches rather than getting lost in educational content. He emphasizes a "back-to-basics" approach for 2026: streamlining tech stacks to avoid over-engineered sites, maintaining a rigorous system for consistent Google reviews, and balancing transactional "money pages" with focused informational content.

Jason Barnard's strategy for Brand SEO centers on a critical pivot away from a singular focus on keywords and toward building a strong brand entity. As the founder of Kalicube, he argues that commercial success is found at the bottom of the acquisition funnel, where high-intent, branded searches occur. His methodology emphasizes clearly defining the brand's identity, who it serves, and its unique credibility. For future-proofing against AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), he stresses the necessity of establishing the brand's website as the "entity home," ensuring message consistency across all digital footprints, actively seeking third-party corroboration, and making all offline activities visible to search machines.

Guillermo Bravo speaks with Jeremy Johnson of Quality Roots outlines the critical role of SEO as a top growth channel in the highly regulated cannabis industry, which faces severe restrictions on paid and out-of-home media. Quality Roots employs a dual-focused SEO strategy: a wide-ranging e-commerce focus on high-intent product keywords and a robust local SEO effort to dominate the Maps Pack for foot traffic. Johnson details advanced tactics like a universal URL structure to combat product cannibalization and long-range targeting of consumers in surrounding states.

Ben Foster of Steady Demand, a Google Business Profile (GBP) product expert, explores the critical role of GBP, which can account for up to 70% of a local business's revenue and is linked to paid media like Local Services Ads. Foster details his journey from web development to specializing in local SEO after the deprecation of Google+. His core philosophy is an "entity-first" strategy, which means providing the database (Google/AI) with the correct semantic and contextual information about a business. Ben also shares a four-step strategy for managing a business's entity association, which involves actively searching for brand reviews, analyzing the sentiment overview, identifying negative citations, and using "positive and negative reinforcement" (feedback) to effectively retrain the Large Language Models (LLMs) that interpret a brand's holistic image.