Explore every episode of the podcast Beyond The Search Bar

Is Google losing the AI search war - or winning it? Eli Schwartz, bestselling author of Product-Led SEO joins Russ Macumber to unpack why Google's distribution edge (Android, Chrome, YouTube, Gmail) still beats anything ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini can offer - and why AEO is really just SEO wearing a new hat.

They cover how Reddit's data feed may shape what LLMs trust, why chasing individual AI platforms is a losing strategy, and whether AI is coming for marketers' jobs (mostly just the boring parts). Plus: real takeaways from Google I/O, an early look at AI-powered Gmail search, why prompt-tracking tools mislead brands, and the fast-approaching world of hyper-personalized search.

Is most of what you know about SEO experiments actually wrong? Host Russ Macumber sits down with Sara Taher, founder of the SEO Riddler newsletter and community, to challenge some deeply held assumptions in the SEO world — including a Google patent that may signal social engineering against sites with spammy backlinks.

Sara shares her honest take on schema markup, her accidental start in SEO via a failed Y Combinator-backed startup, and why she built one of the industry's most active SEO communities. Then the conversation turns to AI: Sara's hard rule is don't generate AI output unless you already know what 80% of the correct answer should look like — backed by real stories from Amazon's AI outage to Starbucks walking back over-automation.

In this episode: broken SEO experiments, the truth about schema, lessons from a failed startup, building community in a cliquey industry, and the AI literacy rule every SEO needs.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Andrew Shotland of LocalSEOGuide.com about how he got his start and eventually mastered the strange world of SEO.

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with Jessica Redman about The Evolving eCommerce SEO Landscape

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with show regular Mordy Oberstein about his recent career change and how Wix is becoming more SEO friendly.

What is the #1 biggest challenge SEOs face in 2023?                  

“2023 is all gonna be about AI, like what you saw with ChatGPT. With Bing AI’s new chat experience, Google’s Bard and other search engines going into the space, I think 2023 is the year of AI and search.”                               

Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics and owns RustyBrick, a New York-based web consulting firm. 

JOIN OUR HOSTS, RUSS MACUMBER IN CONVERSATION WITH BARRY SCHWARTZ ON SEARCH ENGINE NEWS AND THE EVOLVEMENT OF SEO THROUGHOUT THE YEARS. 

“I feel like it’s only in the last 5 or 6 years that SEO has been integrated into the whole marketing strategy, rather than just standing on their own. Based on my experience, an SEO specialist was always associated with someone who sits with headphones on, is buried in code, and refuses to talk to others. Nowadays, SEO specialists are more innovative and work across various areas such as content, product, brand, and more. Your soft skills have become so much more important because SEO does touch on many different aspects of a business.” – Barry Schwartz on the evolution of SEO over the years. 

• Barry’s initial marketing background (2:59)
• Black hat SEO tactics back in the days (5:54)
• The early development of Search Engine Land’s website (7:51)
• The purpose of Search Engine Land (8:48)
• Significant search engine stories that Barry has covered (9:35)
• The role of Search Engine Land in the SEO community (11:01)
• The importance of integrating SEO into the whole marketing team (12:55)
• The future of AI as search engines (23:24)
• TikTok vs Google (25:57)

"I have always wished to make an impact in making people’s lives easier, driving the community forward, and thinking about the right things versus trying to take shortcuts. " - Barry Schwartz.

In this episode, we're thrilled to have Barry Schwartz, a content editor specializing in search engine related news, share his thoughts on search engines and how they have developed throughout the decades. Barry's interest in the SEO community and the fast-paced evolution of search engines propelled him towards journalism and documenting news related to the search engine industry. This episode will touch on the evolution of search engines and the groundbreaking rise of AI technology.  

We hope you enjoyed this episode of our podcast! Please tune in for more SEO success stories by hitting “subscribe.”

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with Peter Rota about Local SEO

Listen as show hosts Russ Macumber & Gabriel Grossman talk with Steve Wiideman from Applebee's, IHOP and more as he talks about his SEO journey.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Bob Tripathi of Digital Sparx

https://digitalsparxmarketing.com/

Listen as show host Russ Macumber talks with the guru Tom Critchlow about his experience as a consultant working with senior leaders, and his journey to starting The SEO MBA program.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Andrew Holland of JBH about his journey from the police force into SEO and marketing!

Listen as show hosts Russ Macumber & Gabriel Grossman talks with author, podcast host and SEO teacher Kate Toon about how she got into the industry and what tips she has for budding SEO ninjas.

Nik Vujic, founder of Get Stuff Digital, returns to the show for a deep dive into where AI search is heading in 2026. Nik explains why he repositioned his agency around "organic growth" instead of SEO, breaks down the AI-powered agentic system his team has spent seven months building in-house, and shares a surprisingly effective playbook for managing brand reputation on Reddit. Russ and Nik also debate how the AI tool landscape will consolidate, the difference between black-hat shortcuts and sustainable AI search visibility, and why - at the end of the day - good marketing is good GEO.

Welcome to SEO Success Stories! This introduction will tell you a bit about what we will be doing over the course of the next 12 episodes and what you can look forward to.

Listen as Russ Macumber talks with Patrick Stox of Ahrefs about lesser known features of the tool that are amazingly useful.

What is the #1 biggest challenge SEOs face in 2022?  

                                                                      “It’s really keeping up with the way that SEO is changing, and it's not just algorithms but integrating SEO with everything else that we're doing in marketing.” 

“It's another thing to develop authority. This really goes beyond backlinks and has to do with a 360 degree of authority for your campaign.” - Dale Bertrand

Dale Bertrand is a technologist-turned-marketer currently running Fire&Spark, a digital agency in Boston that ignites organic search traffic for a range of industries. With 15 years of experience in engineering and AI systems, Dale has helped develop search marketing strategies for Fortune 500 companies and venture-backed startups to analytically solve marketing problems with highly combustible SEO strategies. 

When he's not busy with his success agency, you can find him attending a handful of marketing conferences as a Keynote speaker, helping to train marketing professionals from TripAdvisor, HubSpot and many more globally renowned brands. 

“We're really starting with what are we gonna do that's remarkable in the space and how are we gonna be a community around that.”- Dale Bertrand.

Join us as we hear of Dale Bertrand’s journey to help grow a charitable coffee brand, Fire House, to help support injured firefighters and their families across America. Taking a digital PR link-building focus, we chat with him about this campaign's beginnings and his tips on how to convey your brand's remarkableness in your campaign. 

• What drew Dale into SEO (3:50)
• Early experiences of SEO (6:52)
• Dale’s framework/mindset towards SEO (8:42)
• Firehouse Coffee journey (11:26)
• Dale’s view on SEO and Digital PR (17: 44)
• Initial SEO resources for Fire House Coffee (21:10)
• First 90 days with Fire House coffee (21:33)
• Planning process for Fire House campaign (25:22)
• Major hurdles for Fire House (26:47)
• Winning stories from the campaign (28:36)
• Key to continue to grow authority (30:48)

Which previous Google algorithm change still keeps you up at night?

All of them. I live in fear that there's another one coming. 

Gun to your head… which do you prefer: content or links?

Backlinks and authority. 

What’s the most effective link-building technique you have used?

PR-related tactics are gonna get you the best links. It’s about questioning what you find remarkable about your brand and what you are doing that's remarkable about your brand in the marketplace. 

Is the skyscraper technique still relevant today?

I believe so. It’s not exactly what we do anymore, but certainly, if you're in a position where it's an opportunity, I’d definitely look into it. 

What do you love most about SEO?

The interdisciplinary aspect such as technical, non-technical, related to marketing/PR, content and, AI etc. But even more than that, I love the folks I get to meet. I get to have conversations with people who do every different facet of marketing and try to understand how their expertise could benefit an SEO campaign. 

How do you apply SEO principles to your daily life?

Most of the grounds on efficient execution and project management, especially when organizing the kids. 

WFH life or Office life or Hybrid life?

I’m an introvert at heart, so a solo office life. 

SEMrush or Ahrefs?

Both organizations have been good to me, and I use both on a daily basis. They're always coming out with interesting tools, so you can't choose. They've also both got some amazing tools in the near future that I'd want to be aware of. 

Agency or In-house or Combo?

I've been both, but I prefer agency life because I want to learn really quickly. 

We hope you enjoyed this episode of our podcast! Please tune in for more SEO success stories by hitting “subscribe.”

Listen as show hosts Russ Macumber & Gabriel Grossman talks with Eli Schwartz - Growth Advisor, SEO Strategic Consultant, Author and much much more - about his journey and top tips for mastering your SEO quest.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Brett Farmiloe of Terkel as they explore Bretts career and PR Link Building (plus other topics).

Listen as show hosts Russ Macumber & Gabriel Grossman talk with Amanda King from Optus about her SEO journey, from content writer to all-round superstar.

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with Sam Dunning about B2B SEO

What is the #1 biggest challenge SEOs face in 2023?

"I don't know if this is the true number one, but one thing I've been thinking about recently is just how much information is out there now compared to 10 years ago for SEO for those who want to learn SEO and advance their career. I think as budgets get tighter, a lot of people might be in for a little bit of a rude awakening if they've been a little bit stagnant in their learning. I think if you're a specialist in one area, you should really start to expand your knowledge and make sure you can keep bringing as much value as you can to these companies. As more remote roles open up, I think the SEO industry is gonna grow and get more competitive, and it'll be a little harder to get those in-house roles like it once was 5 or 10 years ago when there weren't really SEO people, all things considered, compared to now. So I just think that's a big thing people should be thinking about moving forward."  

Will Waggoner is an SEO strategist who has experience in leading teams to success. From his time at Intuit as an SEO manager, growing and improving their team irrespectively, to his impressive feats at one of the global powerhouse brands Apple, Will brings expertise and leading qualities to everything he does to implement SEO changes for the better. With a love for user experience, Will will do whatever it takes to create a smooth and engaging experience for all users. 

JOIN OUR HOSTS, RUSS MACUMBER IN CONVERSATION WITH WILL WAGGONER ON H IS SEO CAREER AND IMPACT IN ONE OF THE WORLDS MOST WELL KNOWN BRANDS; APPLE.

“One of the biggest things in my role was to convince them (Apple) that we actually should do things in a different way, which was difficult, but I was able to be pretty successful with it over my time there. I started small and worked my way up.” - Will Waggoner on his influence at Apple. 

• Will’s initial journey into SEO (2:46)
• Does agency experience help or hinder career growth? (7:56)
• Intuit (11:15)
• Apple (16:30)
• Building relationships in Will’s first 90 days at Apple (20:17)
• Similarity in Will’s experience between both companies (25:50)
• Will’s proudest moments from Apple (27:28)
• Will’s SEO gains (28:28)
• Vox Pop (30:40)

"It was just funny knowing that I had influenced such a big company that had only done things a certain way for so long." - Will Waggoner.



In this episode, we're thrilled to have Will Waggoner, a dynamic and inspiring SEO expert from Apple, share his incredible journey to SEO success. From humble beginnings in SEO at Intuit to leading impactful changes at Apple, Will has created a dynamic change in every one of his positions along his current career. This episode will touch on the importance of relationships in the process of making brand change and just how Will was able to change the mind of one of the most significant leading figures in history (Steve Jobs). 

Which previous Google algorithm change still keeps you up at night?

None of them. 

Favorite non-obvious software tool that you use every day to research or execute?

There's one I use; it's a chrome extension called twemex. It's for Twitter. I learn a lot from people on Twitter, but there's a lot of people that haven't really posted in a long time or maybe a few years that used to post a lot of good information. It (twemex) basically up levels all of these top posts from forever, so I can see all of the case studies that they're posting so I can learn the most important information about them. It's really helpful for me when I'm trying to find new people on Twitter or look for specific information in other industries that aren't SEO related. That's the number one tool I use daily and in my personal life. 

Gun to your head… which do you prefer: content or links?

Content, for sure. 

What's the most effective link-building technique you have used?

It's actually something I did in my internship .. links doing this. You can't do this anymore, or else things will get in trouble, but we basically reached out to intramural college sports teams that had their own website on the college's domain, and we'd sponsor them and put a widget which would have about two backlinks coming back to our site, so we could get up to three links for each sports team. 

Is the skyscraper technique still relevant today?

Not really as much anymore. 

What do you love most about SEO?

I think I like the detective work of figuring out what's not obvious and really digging into things. That's kind of what helps me get by some of the days that feel a little bit slower. 

How do you apply SEO principles to your daily life?

Not everything is black and white; I've learnt that a lot in SEO. The more I apply that to my daily life and outlook and working with people I think it helps a lot. There's always a lot of gray areas, and nothing is truly as it usually seems. 

WFH life or Office life or Hybrid life?

My preference is hybrid, leaning more toward work from home, but the more I think about it, I definitely do miss the in-person relationships that I built in Into it and my previous roles, which I didn't get at Apple cause I was remote the whole time. 

SEMrush or Ahrefs?

Ahrefs only because that's what I primarily use, but they're both good tools. 

Agency or In-house or Combo?

I think if you do it right, the combination is perfect. I also think it's the perfect combination for an employee having experience in both too. 

We hope you enjoyed this episode of our podcast! Please tune in for more SEO success stories by hitting “subscribe.”

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with the wonderful Nick LeRoy about how he got started in the industry, transitioning into a 'consultant for hire' and some not so common tools that he uses in his role.

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with Ivan Palii about Parasite SEO

Fery Kaszoni is back. The Search Intelligence founder unpacks how AI search is changing the game (and why it's making organic SEO more important, not less), shares the honest truth about measuring ROI in AI search, and reveals what's actually moving the needle in digital PR campaigns today.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Morgan Flores of Clutch about global SEO and her journey.

Listen as Russ Macumber talks with Nathan Gotch about his journey to starting the Gotch SEO Academy.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Gus Pelogia from Indeed.com

Visit Gus at: https://www.guspelogia.com/

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Greg Brooks from SearchTides

https://searchtides.com/

Listen as show hosts Russ Macumber & Gabriel Grossman talk with Patrick Stox from Ahrefs about his SEO journey.

Listen as show hosts Russ Macumber & Gabriel Grossman talk with Lyndon Barnett of Vodafone about his SEO journey.

Listen as Russ Macumber talks with SEO legend Jess Joyce about her journey from band fan-sites to being an SEO superstar.

Listen: as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks Agency to SAAS with Limor Barenholtz of SimilarWeb

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with Joe Hall about contrarian SEO takes

Listen as Russ Macumber of Impressive Digital talks with Gaetano DiNardi, formerly of Nextiva, about his SEO journey and what his key tips and tricks are for any aspiring SEO ninja.

Is GEO or AEO really changing the game - or is it just SEO with a new coat of paint? Russ is joined by Search Theory co-founders David Vernon and Sara Kavanagh for an honest conversation about the state of search in 2026. They make the case that SEO fundamentals still rule, dig into why AI-generated content keeps failing, and explain what digital PR actually means in an LLM-driven world. Tired of the hype? This one's for you.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with the ever-wonderful Eli Schwartz of Product Led SEO about Google's SGE and what it means for the industry.

Hear more words of wisdom from Eli Schwartz at ProductLedSEO.substack.com.

Russ Macumber from SEO Success Stories speaks with Kevin Indig from Shopify about his journey and experience in SEO. Kevin shares his insights with us.

Listen as show hosts Russ Macumber & Gabriel Grossman talk with Mateen Agha from Virgin Megastore about his SEO journey.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Nik Vujic of Get Stuff Digital about 'No Code SEO' and its pro's / con's over traditional SEO.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nik-vujic-seo

http://www.getstuffdigital.co/

Friend of the show, Steve Wiideman, returns for another episode to give us an update on what he has been doing and his experience working with International House of Pancakes (IHOP).

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Max Roslyakov, former Semrush employee, about his business and adventures into backlink experiments!

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Mike Ciffone about the recent Google Search leak with Mike Ciffone.

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with David Vernon about Is SEO dead?

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks with Kevin Indig about Google's transition from Search Engine to Marketplace.

Listen as Impressive's Russ Macumber talks Technical SEO for Enterprise with Serge Bezborodoc of Jet Octopus!

Google has become the world's largest publisher — and for brands that relied on organic search, that's a crisis. In this episode, Russ sits down with Chad White, Head of Research at Zeta Global, to map out what comes next. Chad shares his five-part framework for staying visible beyond Google, makes the case for email as a genuine search platform, and explains why Google's Personal Intelligence initiative — connecting Gemini to Gmail — could be the most powerful AI personalization signal hiding in plain sight. They also get into multi-channel strategy, machine-to-machine commerce, and why empathy is the most underrated marketing tactic of 2026.

Listen as show host Russ Macumber talks with Leanne Follis of JLL about what got her interested in SEO and how she used her passion for learning to turn it into a career.

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with Brian Shumway about TBC

Listen as Impressive’s Russ Macumber talks with Rai Cornell about Psychology driven content SEO

Listen as show host Gabriel Grossman talks with Mordy Oberstein of Semrush about his SEO journey.