762 | SEO News from the EDGE | Week of 6.2.2025
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
Release Date: 06/06/2025
765 | Aligning SEO with AI and Intent: Bruce Clay’s Perspective
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
Bruce Clay (yes, *the* Bruce Clay) returns to EDGE of the Web, and Erin tries to pretend the SEO world hasn’t changed a bit in five years. Spoiler: It most definitely has, and Bruce is here to walk us through his journey from the days of Excite and AltaVista to the AI-fueled search ecosystem of today. It’s a continued conversation on the EDGE regarding how AI is shaking up traditional SEO practices, from content and conversion to that all-important site-wide intent matching. Bruce and Erin break down the evolving art of helpful content, why intent is suddenly the star of the SEO show, and...
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764 | News from the EDGE | Week of 6.23.2025
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
It’s a packed episode of Paid Ad News from the EDGE, and Greg Finn of Cypress North is back to break down the latest developments across Google Ads, Performance Max, and AI-driven campaign shifts. Erin Sparks and Greg discuss everything from keywordless “AI Max” targeting to new reporting transparency in Performance Max, the future of video ads in search results, and the subtle changes coming to Local Service Ads. Plus, what does it mean when Google lets your manager’s policy violations pause your ad account? You’ll want to hear this. It’s all about smarter ad strategy, safer...
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763 | Audacious Marketing: Mark Schaefer’s Playbook for Breaking the AI Mold
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
Human vs. Machine Mayhem Marketing maven Mark Schaefer returns to EDGE of the Web, diving headfirst into the audacious art of brand disruption in a world brimming with AI-generated noise. We unpack Schaefer’s latest book, "" offering wild tales of brands that drop the cookie-cutter for shock, spectacle, and seriously weird TikToks (lookin’ at you, Nutter Butter). From QR codes in the sky luring diners out of restaurants, to the marketing taboo-breakers of Liquid Death and ELF Cosmetics, we explore how marketers can stir emotion, break convention—without getting canceled—and...
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762 | SEO News from the EDGE | Week of 6.2.2025
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
WordPress hits play after a messy pause, but is it too little, too late for the CMS giant? Meanwhile, Google’s AI experiments are changing the rules for email marketing, local search, and desktop Discover, leaving marketers everywhere scrambling for a playbook that doesn’t exist. Erin and SEO pro Cindy Krum break down WordPress’s mudslinging match with WP Engine and the quiet return to development, all while raising eyebrows over community trust. We check on Google’s ever-evolving SERPs—AI Overviews, the deployment of Discover on desktop, and the not-so-sneaky ways impressions and...
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761 | Disrupt or Die: Leveraging Authenticity and Awe w/ Mark Schaefer
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
Mark Schaefer returns to EDGE of the Web to share his vision of marketing's future in an AI-saturated landscape. With a blend of insight and candor, Mark tackles the evolution of social media, the risks and rewards of AI, and how brands can stand out by tapping into authentic human emotion. Hear why traditional marketing is falling flat and discover what “everyday awe” means for building deep brand loyalty. Plus, Mark unveils the tech twist behind the cover of his new book, . This is not just another marketing chat; it’s a call to disrupt before you're disrupted. Key Segments: [00:04:12]...
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760 | Social News from the EDGE | Week of 5.12.2025
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
CTR Secrets and Social Shakeups It’s another jam-packed ride on EDGE of the Web as Erin is joined by Duncan Alney of Firebelly to discuss News in Social this week. With Google hyping up AI Overviews but dodging every meaningful CTR question, it seems the only thing spinning faster than SERP layouts are the PR answers. Get the inside scoop on how ChatGPT gobbles up over 80% of AI search traffic (Google, take notes), why Meta’s launching a CapCut rival to remix your socials, and how Reddit is scrambling to keep the bots at bay after AI sock puppets could sway opinions 3-6x better than...
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759 | Practical Tips for Utilizing Heat Maps w/ Celeste Gonzalez
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
Curious where your website visitors are really clicking—or rage-clicking? On this week’s EDGE of the Web, SEO expert Celeste Gonzalez returns to break down how heatmaps and session recordings are transforming the way we analyze user behavior, optimize pages, and (hopefully) keep our clients engaged. We dig into practical tips for choosing the right pages to monitor, interpreting the sometimes confusing world of “dead clicks” versus “rage clicks,” and why your mobile hero image might be killing conversions. A/B testing? Internal linking tests for those blog post traffic hogs? ...
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758 | SEL News from the EDGE | Week of 5.5.2025
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
This week, Erin Sparks and Jacob Mann are joined by Danny Goodwin, editorial director at Search Engine Land, for a special “News from the News” edition. They dive into the sharp rise of Google Ad costs and the troubling effects of CPC inflation, Instagram’s experimental new collaborative Storylines feature, and an in-depth study comparing AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing, and Google. The conversation shifts to major legal blows hitting Google’s ad tech monopoly, new research revealing how AI overviews are significantly cutting into click-through rates, and the future of...
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757 | User Behavior from Heatmaps w/ Celeste Gonzalez
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
Celeste Gonzalez, Director of Rue Labs at Rickety Roo, joins EDGE to explore how heat maps and user behavior tracking are transforming SEO strategy. She walks through Microsoft Clarity’s suite of tools—including tap, scroll, attention, and area heat maps—and explains how they reveal real user interactions beyond what traditional metrics can offer. From understanding time-on-page to visualizing content engagement, Celeste shows how these tools help SEOs optimize design, layout, and messaging. She highlights the growing need to “earn the scroll,” not just the click, especially as...
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756 | AI/SEO News from the EDGE | Week of 4.21.2025
EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer
Advertisers are bailing on TikTok as another U.S. ban looms, shifting dollars to Meta while creators scatter to backup platforms. Meanwhile, Google credits Gemini for nuking 240 million spammy reviews and business edits, but don’t expect them to help you get your real reviews back. Big legal moves are underway: The NYT lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft will proceed, and Chegg is suing Google for killing traffic via AI Overviews. Sara Taher joins the show to unpack the long-term consequences of AI scraping and shrinking search real estate. We also dive into new AI traffic...
info_outlineWordPress hits play after a messy pause, but is it too little, too late for the CMS giant? Meanwhile, Google’s AI experiments are changing the rules for email marketing, local search, and desktop Discover, leaving marketers everywhere scrambling for a playbook that doesn’t exist.
Erin and SEO pro Cindy Krum break down WordPress’s mudslinging match with WP Engine and the quiet return to development, all while raising eyebrows over community trust. We check on Google’s ever-evolving SERPs—AI Overviews, the deployment of Discover on desktop, and the not-so-sneaky ways impressions and clicks are decoupling faster than you can say “zero-click search.” Added to the mix: AI’s impact on your inbox and why we might all end up living the “Dead Internet Theory.”
Is SEO on life support or just evolving (again)? We debate the rosy new journey-centric approach while side-eyeing Google’s “trust us, bro” attitude toward data transparency. Buckle up for a rapid-fire tour through the SEO wilderness—tracking AI hallucinations, local search creepiness, and why “hyper-personalization” might not sell more cannolis after all.
News from the EDGE:
[00:03:22] WordPress Unpauses Development - but is it out of time?
[00:08:05] Google Discover on Desktop
[00:12:53] AI is Making a Major Impact on Email Marketing
[00:16:57] Title Sponsor: Site Strategics
SEO News from the EDGE:
[00:20:01] The Great Decoupling Of Google Search
[00:26:06] AI Overviews Research: How Google’s AI Answers Vary Across Five States
[00:32:07] AI and Local Search: The New Rules of Visibility
[00:37:49] Sponsor: WAIKAY from InLinks
[00:40:33] Google Search Console to Show AI Mode Performance
[00:46:01] Is SEO Still Relevant In the AI Era?
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