Advertise on podcast: SEO Rockstars

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. 

Frank Watson, aka "Aussie Webmaster," provided a comprehensive look at the evolution of search, spanning from the pre-engine days of the Yahoo! directory and the inception of Google's PageRank to the current landscape. He stressed that while AI tools like Performance Max (PMax) have revolutionized PPC, human strategy remains essential for specific keyword selection and creating impactful Calls-to-Action. Watson firmly believes SEO is not dead and advocated for "engaging knowledgeably with the algorithm" rather than manipulation. He also highlighted the significant challenge of declining user trust in search results and the urgent need for a "Compliance AI Tool" in highly regulated fields.

Brady Madden offers insights on the relationship between AI, Local SEO, and online reputation. The core message is that while AI, such as Large Language Models (LLMs), is an efficiency tool for tasks like content brainstorming, it requires mandatory human editing to ensure brand voice, accuracy, and "SEO Search Empathy." For local businesses, Google Maps and a fully built-out Google Business Profile (GBP) remain the most critical platforms. However, to rank in AI recommendations, the focus is shifting to off-page SEO signals, including brand mentions, sentiment on platforms like Reddit, and local community activities. Above all, reputation is paramount, as LLMs scrape reviews from all sources to ensure they recommend the most honest and trustworthy service providers, making consistent service quality and high-velocity, high-quality reviews vital for search visibility.

Joy Hawkins outlines the critical shifts in local SEO, emphasizing that Google Reviews are the Undisputed #1 Factor. Reviews are now considered "table stakes" for all SEO and ad return on investment (ROI). The core strategy centers on hitting the 10-review threshold for an immediate ranking boost, prioritizing the recency and velocity of new reviews, incentivizing front-line staff to collect them, and encouraging customers to include keywords in their feedback. Beyond reviews, On-Page SEO remains foundational, as the website is a core asset. It requires dedicated pages for every single service to clearly signal offerings to Google, for example, creating separate pages for "Ant Control" and "Wasp Removal" instead of a single page for "Pest Control." Conversely, many old strategies are now deprecated. Citations are considered "almost not important at all," and backlinks are largely ineffective for moving local pack rankings; businesses should focus their time on only a dozen high-traffic directories.

A deep dive into how the world of search is being fundamentally reshaped by the emergence of ChatGPT and Large Language Models (LLMs), giving rise to the critical new discipline: Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO. Guillermo and Eduardo break down the difference with a simple analogy: SEO is your "pickup line"—it tells Google what you do—while GEO is your "reputation," which teaches AI why your brand is trustworthy enough to be recommended. 

Guillermo and Eduardo unveil 3 "Low-Effort, High-Impact" SEO Quick Wins—immediate, foundational steps that promise to shift your digital authority. These aren't technical deep dives; they are simple, high-leverage actions to "start dominating within their space." They reveal a "Gold Standard" for immediately earning customer trust, a non-negotiable step to ensuring your business is found and always current, and a mandatory rule for flawless synchronization across the entire web. Discover the three secrets to earning trust and establishing a powerful, consistent presence that Google—and your customers—can believe in, without a heavy technical lift.

We talk about the launch of Nacho Analytics with Mike Roberts, Founder and CEO of SpyFu, a service that lets you learn from and download your competitors’ AdWords and SEO campaign history. Having founded SpyFu in 2006, he led the charge in transforming the way search marketers to craft their strategies in PPC and SEO. Like many creators, Mike obsesses over what makes something work. He applies that thinking to search marketing, pulling apart the data to learn why some advertisers are more successful so that everyone can learn from the wisdom of the market. We also hear from Moss Pauly. Head of Warrior Forum. which is the world's largest Internet marketing community with over 1 million of the world's top internet marketers.

Mike Roberts is the Founder and CEO of SpyFu, a service that lets you learn from and download your competitors’ AdWords and SEO campaign history. Mike is an industry-recognized expert in SEO, PPC, and competitive intelligence. Talks about SEO Mistakes You’re Definitely Making Having founded SpyFu in 2006, he led the charge in transforming the way search marketers to craft their strategies in PPC and SEO. Like many creators, Mike obsesses over what makes something work. He applies that thinking to search marketing, pulling apart the data to learn why some advertisers are more successful so that everyone can learn from the wisdom of the market.

This episode of SEO Rockstars touches on Google now letting you submit URLs for indexing straight from Search, as well as giving you the ability to fact check news. Not only is Google one fo the best search engines but we give you 5 Reasons Why Google is Best Place to Work. Google has been trying to reduced fake Google Maps listings and have by 70% since 2015. Also a tip of the hat to blogging wizard for The Definitive Guide To Getting Google Sitelinks.

Google’s biggest-ever search quality crisis; Why do marketers still struggle with innovative search tactics?  Google Testing Breadcrumb URLs Above Titles on Mobile Search Results. Eric Enge recaps a session from SMX West where audience members were able to ask Google anything.  How to Get Back on Track After a Drop in Rankings. Brand Safety Issues At Google: 'Much Ado About Nothing'  

Harnessing the power of online reviews as Thomas Ballantyne spoke last week at SMX West about the value of online reviews, showing why businesses need to start thinking about them if they aren't already. Plus, a recap of a session on the Definitive Guide to Local Search Ranking Factors.  How Google Chooses “People Also Search For” in Knowledge Panels   Understanding the Quick Answers Box  Questions to Assess SEO Candidates' Knowledge 

Hijacking Google’s SEO guide search rankings ; Google ‘related picks’ now showing under some top stories carousels; How competitors can ruin your rankings, and how to make sure they don't  . The correlation between ranking factors — like views, comments and shares — with YouTube rankings.