Libsyn Directory

752 | DMA and Google's Self-Preference: What Local Businesses Need to Know

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Release Date: 04/02/2025

777 | AI/SEO News from the EDGE | Week of 12.1.2025

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

This week’s EDGE of the Web dives into the seismic shifts rocking the digital marketing landscape, from Adobe’s blockbuster SEMrush acquisition to Google’s long-awaited rollout of Search Console Annotations (well, not so seismic). The future of AI in SEO and the rising tide of data privacy laws set the tone for a fast-changing industry. Erin Sparks, Crystal Carter, and Jacob Mann break down what Adobe’s $1.9 billion move means for marketers and explore how WIX is upping its AI tools, accessibility, and agentic web readiness. The crew also spotlights ChatGPT’s rumored ad features,...

776 | Wil Reynolds: Don’t Do F*cking Listicles

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Cut the Crap! Here’s a special episode with Wil Reynolds from Seer Interactive when we were at BrightonSEO 2025 in San Diego this year. We HAD to grab Wil after his keynote and unpack his thoughts on where we are with AI and SEO. No more excuses: Wil Reynolds lays out bold strategies, from open-source testing to hands-on experimentation, empowering pros at every level to innovate, even without buy-in from the top. Hustle, determination, and optimizing for humans crushes the status quo and delivers real results. Ready to drop lazy listicles and lead with guts? Hit play...

775 | AI, Authenticity, and SEO with Wil Reynolds

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

KPIs, Disrupted Is it time to rethink the key performance indicators driving digital marketing and SEO? This episode brings Wil Reynolds onto EDGE of the Web to challenge the old playbook and reveal how AI and changing online behavior are redefining success for marketers everywhere. Rankings and traffic volumes are fading as top priorities, replaced by strategies that value authenticity, human-centric connections, and theme-driven positioning. Erin Sparks and Wil Reynolds discuss the pitfalls of chasing vanity metrics, the impact of AI-powered search experiences, and how SEOs must rebalance...

774 | Paid Ad News from the EDGE | Week of 10.27.25

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Is ChatGPT’s new Atlas browser a Google killer? Greg Finn joins the roundtable to unpack shifting search results in Atlas, debate its reliability, and explore where Google, Bing, and browser innovation collide. The team tackles the impact of major AWS outages on Fortnite, Alexa, and the broader web, then pivots to Meta’s fresh scam alerts targeting older users. Plus, get up to speed on breaking paid ad news: new Google Ads text guidelines, canceled account data deletion, shopping ad subscriptions, and the latest reporting tools aimed at advertisers. Greg brings a reality check on ad...

773 | Content Strategy and LLMS.txt w/ Carolyn Shelby

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

AI Eats Your Content Is your website feeding the AI overlords? Or hiding all the good stuff under napkins and toggles? On this week’s EDGE of the Web, Erin Sparks sits down with Carolyn Shelby, Principal SEO at Yoast, to reveal why your site’s juiciest content may be lost to the bots (and your users, too). We dig into Carolyn’s strategies for structuring content that’s not only valuable to users, but also perfectly plated for LLMs like GPT and Google’s AI Overview. From the new LLMs.txt “treasure map” for your website to deep dives on why schema isn’t your silver bullet,...

772 | Unpacking LLMs.txt with Carolyn Shelby

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Erin welcomes Carolyn Shelby, the Principal SEO at Yoast and a renowned authority in technical and enterprise SEO. Carolyn brings decades of hands-on experience from her pioneering days in digital marketing, working with brands like Disney’s ESPN, Tribune Publishing, and major nonprofits. The conversation kicks off with a surprising twist—Carolyn’s unique title as Queen of the micronation Ladonia—before diving into her role at Yoast and their latest innovation: the LLMs.txt file generator. Carolyn explains how this new file helps websites communicate their most valuable content...

771 | SEO News from the EDGE | Week of 9.15.2025

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Is Google Search thriving or dying? How is AI eating your PPC lunch, and why won’t Google make up its mind? This week, we cover trending topics including Google’s expanded AI mode for multi-lingual search, Reddit’s sneaky push for publisher power with brand new Pro Tools, and the surprising court ruling that lets Google keep Chrome… while also sharing some of its special sauce (most likely a can of Ragu). You’ll hear how shifting digital consumer behavior (think: the Four S’s—searching, scrolling, streaming, shopping) is making marketers rethink their omnichannel...

770 | Barry Adams - How Google’s AI Mode Is Reshaping News Publishing

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Google’s AI is poised to wipe out half of news publishers’ traffic, but Barry Adams isn’t here to panic—he’s here to bring the hard truths (with a side of hope). On this week’s EDGE of the Web, we dive deep into how Google’s relentless AI advancements, from overviews to the new AI mode, threaten the very foundation of news publishing. Join host Erin Sparks and News SEO specialist Barry Adams as they break down the seismic shifts hitting news publishers: AI overviews stealing clicks, Top Stories boxes protecting (for now), and why AI mode is a technological hand grenade waiting to...

769 | AI/SEO News from the EDGE | Week of 8.25.2025

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Meta’s got its eyes (and algorithms) locked on unoriginal content, and that’s just the tip of the AI-powered iceberg. This week, EDGE of the Web is knee-deep in septic tank puns and even deeper into breaking news shaking up AI, SEO, and the future of web browsing. Hosts Erin Sparks and guest Crystal Carter wade through Meta’s latest moves to curb content farms and content theft, Google’s new AI-generated shopping and search experiments, and the shocking rise of AI-powered browser contenders. Plus, the crew gets real about how AI Overviews are cannibalizing clicks, what “agentic AI”...

768 | Social News from the EDGE | Week of 8.18.2025

EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

AI Mode goes global, Google’s giving users the easy button, and Reddit and Wikipedia are snagging prime AI real estate. This week, the EDGE dives into the explosion of AI Mode, the changing landscape of web traffic, and the wild world of social media innovation—with plenty of insights from Duncan Alney of Firebelly and the EDGE team. Get the latest on Google’s brand-new AI Mode launching in 180 countries (but only in English for now), and why letting AI do the reasoning for you might make us all a little lazier. Plus, referral traffic from ChatGPT is plummeting while Reddit and Wikipedia...

More Episodes

The EDGE untangles the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) with SEO veterans Mike Blumenthal, Greg Sterling, and David Mihm. This episode reveals how Google’s strategic maneuvers in Europe are reshaping the SERP landscape and challenging the status quo in local search.

With a strong research effort of the last two years, our guests dissect Google's attempts to comply with the DMA, such as the introduction of the Places Sites Tab, Carousel and the decoupling of the Local Pack from Google Maps. Despite these efforts, user behavior tells a different story—one where Google's new features are largely ignored. It seems the Local Pack is still the go-to destination for users, regardless of these new additions.

Meanwhile, the episode exposes an intriguing juxtaposition in the hotels vertical, where booking.com emerges as a formidable player through ad dominance, highlighting a complex dance between market giants. This scenario sparks a discussion on whether Google's self-preferencing tendencies are truly being curtailed or simply rebranded.

Join us as we explore how Google's “play nice” strategies may just be a façade amidst ongoing DOJ antitrust pressure. Could this pave a path for diversified regional strategies and fresh opportunities in the digital marketing sphere?

Let us know your thoughts of the show at https://ratethispodcast.com/EDGE

Key Segments:

[00:02:01] SEO News from the EDGE Highlig

[00:04:40] Introducing NearMedia: Mike Bluementhal, Greg Sterling, and David Mihm

[00:08:03] What is the Digital Marketing Act?

[00:08:59] Article 65 of the DMA Applies to the Regulation of Search

[00:11:37] EDGE of the Web Title Sponsor: Site Strategics

[00:13:34] What has Google Done to Comply with the DMA?

[00:16:21] Google Rewriting History with Multiple Local Packs

[00:18:13] Was This Done to Address American Antitrust Concerns?

[00:20:06] Will the Election Change the Antitrust Enforcement?

[00:24:23] EDGE of The Web Sponsor: InLinks