Published by Candour
Every Monday, Jack Chambers-Ward has in-depth conversations with SEO experts from around the world. Covering topics from attribution in GA4 to networking tips for introverts and everything in between. Search With Candour is the perfect way to kickstart your working week! https://withcandour.co.uk/podcast
Listen on Apple Podcasts34 min
Jack Chambers-Ward recaps the biggest SEO news from June 2026 on Search With Candour. Jack covers Google’s “Preferred Sources” expanding from Discover into AI Mode and AI Overviews, the new Search Console generative AI performance reporting and contrasts it with Bing Webmaster Tools’ expanded AI visibility reporting. He also highlights the new ability to connect Google Business Profile to GA4 for richer local reporting and a landmark German court ruling that Google can be held liable for false claims in AI Overviews, treating them as Google’s own content. Links to news stories https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/original-high-quality-content-search/ https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/a-new-profile-to-help-publishers-and-creators-highlight-their-work-on-search/ https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/06/gen-ai-performance-reports https://blogs.bing.com/search/June-2026/New-AI-Visibility-Insights-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Intents-Topics-Citation-Share-Compare https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/16930347 https://the-decoder.com/landmark-german-ruling-declares-googles-ai-overviews-are-googles-own-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:27 Preferred sources expand to AI Mode 05:08 Google adds creator Search Profiles 08:32 GSC AI performance reporting 10:25 Bing AI visibility tools 17:23 Google Business Profile data in GA4 22:34 German court finds Google liable for AI Overview content 31:11 Wrap up
1 hr 4 min
Sean Barber joins Search with Candour to discuss fighting misinformation in the health industry. Misinformation has been exacerbated with the growth of LLMs and AI, which increasingly cite piecemeal sources in ways that can mislead or endanger users. Sean and Jack share examples such as incorrect CPR guidance and confusing emergency and non-emergency phone numbers. Follow Sean: Website: https://www.searchwithsean.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SearchWithSean LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrbarber/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/searchwithsean.bsky.social 00:00 Fighting misinformation in YMYL industries 01:36 Meet Sean Barber 05:15 Why misinformation spreads so quickly 08:09 AI Overviews causing health risks 11:26 Patience versus accuracy 15:02 Organisation-wide strategies for companies fighting misinformation 21:19 The importance of transparency and reputation 26:28 Defensive vs proactive tactics 29:51 Proving your expertise 34:01 Put experts on camera 37:58 Low-budget video setup 39:51 Authenticity beats big productions 41:10 Why showing your face matters 43:13 How to build trust signals 46:18 AI search and funding 50:03 Bad press is actually bad press 52:59 Always keep a human in the loop 55:11 Recommendations: Sean’s actionable tip 57:41 Recommendations: Sean’s SEO tools 59:38 Recommendations: TV and movies 01:03:54 Episode wrap-up
1 hr 8 min
Léo Poitevin, founder and CEO of Astrak Agency, joins Search with Candour to discuss why your competitors may be recommended in ChatGPT and other AI search tools while you are not. Topics discussed: Why AI search engines are easier to manipulate than Google How to identify competitors in AI search How to build trust signals for AI search How to use listicles and guest posts to rank in AI search The risks of self-promotional listicles Follow Léo: Astrak Agency: https://astrak.agency/en/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-poitevin/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leopoitevin Get your tickets for SearchNorwichXL Chapters 00:00 Highlights of Léo Poitevin 01:03 Introduction 05:24 Leo’s SEO background 07:14 Are LLMs easier to game than Google? 07:47 Google is good at fighting spam 12:36 AI competitor research 15:16 Competitor research for GEO 19:47 Tracking volatility 25:13 Imperfect data and KPIs for AI search 30:11 A listicle strategy that works for LLMs 33:01 Léo case studies 36:07 The risks of listicles 37:16 Self promotional listicles 38:04 Ranking shifts in ChatGPT 39:06 Listicles penalised by Google 41:48 Testing new limits 43:05 Links versus mentions 46:18 Black Hat vs White Hate SEO 49:15 Influencers and guest posts 52:34 What hurts AI search 56:20 Recommendation: Actionable tip 57:51 Recommendation: Tool 59:57 Recommendation: Cozy games 01:05:14 Where to follow Léo 01:06:44 Episode wrap-up
1 hr 19 min
Host: Jack Chambers-Ward | https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlwchambers/ | He/him In this episode of Search with Candour, I’m joined by Josh Bachynski, CEO at Be Found Everywhere. With over 20 years of experience, Josh shares insights on ethical marketing and why an evidence-based approach to SEO is important for AI search optimisation. Topics discussed: Why AI Mode is the biggest change in search since 1998 How the ranking factors compare to the traditional 10 blue links Why marketers must adapt to AI or get left behind Why testing is so important in making strategic decisions Google’s definition of consensus and non-commodity content How to find trustworthy sources in SEO The difference between virtue signalling and truly ethical marketing Chapters 00:00 Introducing Josh Bachynski 01:16 Introduction 04:15 Why evidence-based SEO is so important 07:05 The new ranking factors for AI search 15:00 Google’s definition of consensus and E-E-A-T 18:18 The ethics of Google’s business model 23:07 Google Ads incentives 27:34 Learn to embrace AI and adapt 36:11 Defining ethical marketing 41:18 Truthful ethical marketing 42:12 Virtue signalling and positivity 43:28 Use AI for good 44:03 Google is not moral 47:55 Adapt or lose jobs 50:37 Evidence-based SEO testing 53:55 Finding trustworthy sources in SEO 59:08 Accountability in communities 01:03:30 Recommendation: Actionable tip 01:08:36 Recommendation: Tools and software 01:14:03 Recommendation: Something fun 01:16:48 Where to follow Josh 01:18:31 Episode wrap-up and upcoming guests Follow Josh Website: https://bfeai.com/ - Use code BEEFY-JOSH-20 for 20% off LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-bachynski/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jbachyns Watch / Listen on YouTube - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8c8k5Yy8FltVNsIsP1iUCSXDfE5cq2pM&si=xl4cMh_ngcMhrJ0- Subscribe to Core Updates for weekly SEO news and SEO tips - https://coreupdates.com/
1 hr 13 min
Laura Iancu joins Search with Candour to talk about the growing crossover between SEO and UX and how we should all thinking about “search experience optimisation” (SXO) instead of traditional SEO. Follow Laura: Searchpedia: https://searchpedia.co.uk/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-iancu-seo/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/searchpedia.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@searchpedia Chapters 00:00 Intro trailer 01:37 Introduction 03:53 Why SXO matters 05:05 Building a common language 09:44 How often to have these conversations 13:17 Sell the value, to get buy-in 17:55 Show, don't tell 25:26 Go beyond best practices 30:27 Take a culture-first approach to research 34:33 The benefits of heatmaps 36:57 UX basics for SEOs 41:41 Designers should stay flexible 42:43 SEO basics for design teams 44:52 AI search shifts 47:30 Testing LLM Visibility 48:44 Laura’s perfect website 51:16 A dream of smarter site search 54:33 Personalisation vs bots 01:00:01 Recommendations: Actionable tip 01:01:47 Recommendations: Tools and software 01:03:49 Recommendations: Books and games 01:10:31 Where to find Laura 01:11:45 Episode wrap-up
1 hr 18 min
Host: Jack Chambers-Ward (he/him) Vince Nero, BuzzStream’s Director of Content Marketing, joins Search with Candour to discuss whether paying for digital PR is the same as buying links. Vince shares research on link marketplaces, noting many sites have zero organic traffic and only a tiny fraction qualify as high-quality. With some top-tier paid placements averaging thousands of dollars per link, often rivalling or exceeding monthly digital PR retainers. Vince and Jack also discuss relevancy vs authority, referral traffic and business impact, the growing value of brand mentions for AI visibility, and how creating owned, original assets and proprietary data can drive long-term coverage. Follow Vince Buzzstream Buzzstream podcast Follow Vince on LinkedIn Vince’s previous episode Vince's recommendations: Actionable tip: Create unique content for digital PR pitches and host that content on your website. Recommended tool: Xofu Something fun: Mina the Hollower and Widow's Bay Chapters 00:00 Highlight reel 01:12 Introduction 04:47 Welcome Vince Nero 05:38 Digital PR vs link buying 08:48 Link marketplaces data 12:47 Quality metrics relevancy 17:13 Google risks penalties 21:45 Cost value comparison 32:02 Digital PR long-term wins 36:07 The importance of owned assets 44:00 AI mentions new value 46:51 Linked vs unlinked mentions 48:25 When links don’t matter 49:46 Big brand campaign metrics 50:45 AI as a status signal 52:55 Non-AI agency debate 54:15 Trusting Google guidance 55:17 Search relations vs Google Corp 01:01:00 guidelines vs case studies 01:03:01 Recommendations: Actionable tip 01:04:24 Recommendations: Tool/software 01:05:37 Recommendations: Something fun 01:15:28 Where to find Vince 01:16:28 Episode wrap up and next guests
55 min
Host Jack Chambers Ward shares a special episode of Search With Candour highlighting two talks from SearchNorwich 18 ahead of the first SearchNorwichXL conference on 24 September 2026. 🎟️SearchNorwichXL tickets: https://searchnorwich.org/ In the first talk, Crystal Carter (Wix) discusses using AI tools for “actual intelligence” in SEO by emphasizing human experience, real examples, and opinion, noting forum visibility (e.g., Reddit) and practical ways to add EEAT-style signals, primary-source content, and social proof while using tools like transcribers, image enhancers, and NotebookLM. In the second talk, Martin Splitt (Google) presents “Maybe it isn’t JavaScript,” explaining that many indexing issues blamed on JavaScript are actually caused by blocked resources (e.g., robots.txt blocking APIs), caching/CDN behavior, or incorrect status codes in SPAs, and recommends using Search Console and rendered HTML to diagnose problems. 00:00 Introduction 00:26 Search Nor Excel Preview 01:05 SearchNorwich 18 highlights 01:49 Crystal Carter Intro 04:59 AI Reality In SEO 07:41 Why Humans Still Win 09:54 Experience Signals Matter 15:17 Real Examples And Proof 17:39 Opinions Drive Clicks 20:51 AI Tools For Humans 23:39 NotebookLM Workflow 25:32 Wix Built In AI Tools 27:40 Crystal Wrap Up 28:58 Why JavaScript Gets Blamed 30:55 Use Search Console Rendered HTML 33:04 Missing Content Cats Case Study 35:32 Robots TXT Blocking The API 37:52 Google Rendering Bug Noindex JS 41:24 Phantom Noindex From CDN Cache 47:10 SPA Error Pages Returning 200 50:57 Fixing SPA 404s Properly 51:54 Summary Tools And Q&A 54:42 Wrap up
47 min
Jack Chambers-Ward hosts a solo episode to recap the biggest SEO news from May 2026, including Google IO, AI traffic reporting in GA4 and the May 2026 core update. Links to news stories https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/explore-web-generative-ai-search/ https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7458539598885867520/ https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9164320?hl=en#05132026 https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/search-io-2026/ https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/google-shopping-cart/ https://status.search.google.com/incidents/wdAXJk6LRRihEjpzEeWE https://www.sistrix.com/blog/may-2026-core-update-visibility-analysis-and-data-updates/ Time stamps 00:00 Intro 03:11 Subscriptions and Trusted News 10:25 Reddit in Google Business Profiles 14:12 Google’s guide for AI search optimisation 29:07 GA4 AI Assistant Tracking 33:08 Google I/O recap 33:57 Search Box Reimagined 37:42 Agentic search and UI 40:28 Personal Intelligence 42:57 Google’s Universal Cart 45:17 May 2026 core update 46:58 Wrap up
49 min
Chris Green joins Search with Candour to share his study on whether answering Google’s “People Also Ask” (PAA) questions correlates with higher organic rankings. 📖 Read the study in full: https://alsoasked.com/insights/paa-ranking-correlation Key takeaways 📈Across the top 5 positions, pages that fully answer more PAA questions tend to rank higher. 📊Commercial and transactional queries show the strongest correlations; navigational and informational queries are weaker. 📉Beyond page 1, the correlation drops sharply and can even reverse in lower page 2 positions—likely due to small sample sizes and SERP variability. Answering PAA questions alone isn’t enough to rank well; technical quality, external signals, and user experience still matter. ✅Covering a wide range of related questions can make content semantically richer, which may support ranking potential. Follow Chris Green 🔗Website - https://www.chris-green.net/ 🔗LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgreenseo/ 00:00 Do PAA Boost Rankings 01:21 Show Intro and Context 03:12 Meet Chris Green 04:48 Why PAA Matters Now 06:14 Originality and Value Proxy 12:28 Study Setup and Intent Buckets 16:02 SERP Sampling Top 20 17:48 Scraping Content at Scale 19:28 How Deep to Pull PAA 21:01 Crawl Errors and Bot Blocks 23:38 Cleaning Scrape Data 24:00 Scraping Ethics and Bots 26:09 Study Setup and Scoring 27:29 Key Findings and Correlations 32:48 Why Intent Was Messy 36:43 Full vs Partial Answers 39:37 Client Action Plan 44:57 Beyond PAA Question Mining 47:23 Where to Follow Chris 48:12 Episode Wrap and Teaser
31 min
Jack Chambers-Ward gives a recap of his experience at HiveMCR 2026 including all of the talks, panels and events over the two-day event hosted by Charlie Whitworth. The event included live music, stand up comedy and talks from Jono Alderson, Dawn Anderson, Alex Moss, Sophie Brannon and many more. Sponsored by Trendos - the AI search visibility tool. With Trendos, you can see who’s buying ads in your AI search results. Trendos now tracks ChatGPT sponsored placements and is the first tool to reveal which competitors are paying to appear in the AI answers your customers see every day. Use code CANDOUR to get a 5% discount on any paid plan. Try Trendos.com ChatGPT AdRadar now Chapters 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:02:19 - Trendos ad 00:05:08 - Thursday at HiveMCR 00:05:52 - Nikki Halliwell’s talk 00:06:35 - Jess Atkinson’s talk 00:07:09 - Manchester SEO All-stars panel 00:08:10 - Token Honey 00:09:21 - Friday at HiveMCR 00:09:41 - Alex Moss’s talk 00:11:05 - Sophie Brannon’s talk 00:12:20 - Dawn Anderson’s talk 00:13:49 - Jono Alderson’s talk 00:16:19 - AI Search panel - Ben McKay, Nick Handley, Itamar Blauer and Gus Pelogia 00:17:21 - Itamar Blauer’s talk 00:18:22 - Areej AbuAli’s talk 00:20:16 - Brand and digital PR panel - Lisa Paasche, Harry Clarkson-Bennett, Jono Alderson, Shannon McGuirk and Ashley Liddell 00:21:20 - Gus Pelogia’s talk 00:22:22 - Ashley Liddell’s talk 00:23:40 - Gianluca Fiorelli’s talk 00:24:19 - Steve Paine’s talk 00:25:14 - Wrap up panel - Charlie Whitworth, Dawn Anderson, Luke Cope and Ned Poulter 00:27:02 - Live comedy by Katie Lingo 00:27:40 - Live comedy by Rich Wilson 00:29:06 - Live comedy by Jeff Innocent 00:29:49 - Wrap up and outro
1 hr 5 min
Adam Gent returns to Search with Candour to discuss how Google’s indexing works and why large websites should monitor it closely. Adam explains that statuses like “URL unknown to Google” can mean Google has deprioritised and effectively forgotten pages, and that Search Console may misreport or fail to alert when pages are actively de-indexed. He describes a “130-day rule” for indexing, where low page quality can affect the status of existing pages. They also cover index bloat on large websites, the importance of long-term indexing, and practical steps like segmenting sitemaps by site sectioning or seasonality. Follow Adam Indexing Insight Follow Adam on LinkedIn Follow Adam on Bluesky Adam at SearchNorwichXL Chapters 00:00 Highlight reel of Adam Gent 01:40 Introduction 04:57 Why index monitoring matters 08:11 Search Console blind spots 10:29 URL unknown to Google 13:13 Why Adam built Indexing Insight 14:04 The 130-day rule for indexing 15:28 What page quality means 21:36 Site sections and patterns 29:37 Index bloat on big sites 32:20 Cleaning up for AI visibility 33:51 Indexing ratios that matter 36:44 Is indexing getting harder 37:33 Short-term vs long-term indexing 40:50 Demand-led recovery 44:29 Indexing misconceptions explained 48:39 Sitemaps for seasonality 52:11 Reducing Search Console noise 55:44 Recommendations 01:03:15 Wrap up
40 min
Jack Chambers-Ward delivers an SEO news recap covering key stories from April 2026 into early May. He highlights Google testing AI Mode directly in the “All” tab, AI Mode’s agentic restaurant bookings, AI Mode side-by-side browsing in Chrome desktop (US), and Google’s Audio Overviews appearing on SERPs beyond Search Labs. He also discusses Google’s official guidance on building agent-friendly websites—how agents use screenshots, raw HTML, and the accessibility tree—and notes Gemini in Chrome rolling out worldwide, potentially boosting Gemini adoption. Google tests AI Mode in the main search tab - https://brodieclark.com/notes/#apr-2026 Google Search Console impressions error - https://xcancel.com/brodieseo/status/2040311550406472112 Agentic restaurant bookings - https://xcancel.com/Google/status/2042626811083853857 AI Mode can open in side-by-side view - https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/ai-mode-chrome/ Google tests Audio Overviews - https://www.seroundtable.com/google-testing-audio-overviews-wild-41207.html How to build agent-friendly websites - https://web.dev/articles/ai-agent-site-ux Gemini in Chrome - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nataliawitczyk_yes-gemini-integrated-in-chrome-is-now-rolling-activity-7456789716202508288-He8k/ Get your tickets for SearchNorwichXL: https://searchnorwich.org/ Time stamps 00:00 Intro 01:22 AI Mode hits main search tab 05:38 Search Console impressions bug 07:35 AI restaurant booking agents 11:09 AI Mode adds split-screen mode in Chrome 18:47 Audio Overviews on SERPs 21:51 How to build agent-friendly websites 30:15 Gemini in Chrome goes global 38:28 Wrap up
1 hr 24 min
In this eighth live collaboration between SEO Mindset and Search with Candour, the hosts discuss the “efficiency paradox” and why AI can increase overwhelm rather than make life easier. Jack Chambers-Ward, Sarah McDowell and Tazmin Suleman debate the pressure to use AI, environmental and job concerns, hallucinations and misuse for legal/medical advice, de-skilling, declining human interaction, and the value of friction and curiosity. Audience Q&A covers practical uses (timestamps, concise messages, event planning), handling forced AI adoption with boundaries, and a discussion of physical books and focus. Sponsors Sponsored by SISTRIX Sponsored by Majestic Follow The SEO Mindset Podcast https://theseomindset.co.uk/ Follow Search with Candour Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8c8k5Yy8FltVNsIsP1iUCSXDfE5cq2pM Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4AILSpWLI74daOhECb8Hm0 Chapters 00:00 Live Show Kickoff 01:23 Meet the hosts 02:48 Sponsors and SISTRIX Data 07:33 Majestic Books and Q&A 09:35 Efficiency Paradox Setup 11:00 AI Overwhelm and Pressure 17:48 Expectations vs Reality 21:52 Hallucinations and Misuse 26:00 Deskilling and Bad Bread 31:14 Maps Memory and Connection 37:34 Productivity as Self Worth 37:55 Rest As Productivity 38:35 Efficiency Versus Quality 40:50 AI Replacing Coworkers 42:36 Friction Builds Skills 47:56 Embrace Failure And Process 50:13 Life Beyond Work 55:46 Audience Q And A Uses 01:01:07 Forced AI And Boundaries 01:11:50 Profit Motives And Reliance 01:16:02 Books Comeback And Focus 01:22:57 Wrap Up And Thanks
43 min
Jack Chambers-Ward and Mark Williams-Cook are back in the Candour studio to discuss if People Also Ask questions improve rankings and Google’s recent crackdown on self-promotional listicles. Sponsored by Trendos No demo required. No paywall. Free plan available. Check your brand’s AI visibility now → Trendos.com They discuss a Chris Green study using AlsoAsked API, SERP scraping, and OpenAI to score whether top-20 ranking pages fully/partially answer related People Also Ask questions, finding a strong correlation in the top five positions, strongest for commercial/transactional queries and weaker for informational/navigational. The conversation shifts to geographic personalisation in search and AlsoAsked’s city-based selector, plus upcoming talks referencing regional question differences. They then cover major traffic losses seen around late January for sites relying on self-promotional “best X” listicles and programmatic comparison pages, noting some core product pages survived while other pages were suppressed. Chris Green’s AlsoAsked study: https://alsoasked.com/insights/paa-ranking-correlation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9dfEjlmZx0 Time stamps 00:00 Introduction 01:18 Back in the studio with Mark 02:48 PAA study setup 06:03 Methodology and scoring 08:10 Why commercial queries win 11:58 Regional PAA insights 16:40 Sponsor: Trendos 20:39 Listicle crackdown begins 23:37 Self promo listicles 26:15 Traffic drop fallout 28:57 Honesty beats hype 31:25 Gemini warning cards 34:17 No awards strategy 37:37 Fan out award signals 41:56 Wrap up and upcoming events
1 hr 6 min
Jasmine Granton joins Search with Candour to discuss the mental health crisis in SEO and digital marketing. Jasmine’s experience as both a digital PR professional and a qualified psychotherapeutic counsellor means she’s especially qualified to discuss this topic. They explore how always-on culture, Slack urgency, KPIs, AI-driven expectations, and perfectionism keep marketers in fight-or-flight, reducing creativity and productivity. Jasmine shares practical techniques, including setting boundaries, “closing loops” at the end of the day, tracking energy and feelings, and building a “wins” folder to counter negativity bias and boost self-compassion. Time stamps 01:14 Introduction 03:00 Welcome Jasmine Granton 05:09 Why marketing feels harder 07:44 Perfectionism and self-worth 12:24 Spotting burnout early 15:08 Journaling and closing loops 21:37 ‘Always on’ culture 27:10 Psychological safety at work 30:30 Learning from failure 32:30 Control circles and change 34:17 Building downtime into work 35:56 Creative focus time at work 37:17 Building self-compassion 38:22 Closing failure loops 40:32 Celebrating your wins 48:21 Track your feelings 49:55 Safety checks 55:22 Recommendations 01:04:00 Where to find Jasmine 01:05:26 Episode wrap-up
1 hr 1 min
Annie-Mai Hodge, founder of Girl Power Marketing and creator of the Social Tea newsletter, makes her triumphant return to Search with Candour to discuss how to do SEO for social media. Annie-Mai explains practical keyword research for social using tools such as TikTok Creator Search Insights and AlsoAsked, and existing SEO tools, then consolidating ideas into a simple spreadsheet and testing performance via platform analytics. They cover everything from captions, on-screen text, audio, and profiles without keyword stuffing; how to choose channels and formats by researching native results, spotting content gaps, and repurposing across platforms; and why posting time matters less than you may think. Follow Annie-Mai: 🌟 Girl Power Marketing: https://www.girlpowermarketing.co.uk/ 🌟 Social media SEO workbook: https://offers.hubspot.com/view/social-media-seo-workbook 🌟 The Social Media Tea: https://www.girlpowermarketing.co.uk/newsletter 🌟 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniemaihodge/ 🌟 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlpowermarketing/ 🎧 Annie-Mai’s previous episode: https://withcandour.co.uk/podcast/tiktok-as-a-search-engine-with-annie-mai-hodge ▶️ Watch Search with Candour on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8c8k5Yy8FltVNsIsP1iUCSXDfE5cq2pM&si=K24FYKx9JiTMfWsh ▶️ Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4AILSpWLI74daOhECb8Hm0 Chapters 00:00 Welcome Back Annie-Mai 00:52 Why Social SEO matters 02:43 Keyword research tools 06:02 Testing keywords in analytics 09:07 Client audits and strategy 12:43 Avoid keyword stuffing 14:57 Posting times and expectations 20:21 Choosing content formats 25:20 Search intent on social 29:24 Repurposing across platforms 33:52 Trends vs core content 35:54 Meme trend pitfalls 36:36 Viral origins stories 38:58 Brand consistency 42:43 Human first optimisation 48:18 Profile basics that work 52:15 Are followers or views better? 56:24 Recommendations: Actionable tips, tools and Project Hail Mary 59:23 Wrap up
27 min
Jack Chambers-Ward hosts a solo episode of Search With Candour, recapping the last 6 weeks of SEO news from the Core Updates newsletter. Jack covers Google’s February 2026 Discover update, a fast March spam update, and the ongoing March 2026 core update. He then highlights Bing Webmaster Tools, adding AI Performance reporting, Google’s WebMCP new UCP features. 📧 Core Updates: https://coreupdates.com/ 🤝 SearchNorwichXL: https://searchnorwich.org/ Google updates 🔗 https://status.search.google.com/incidents/mYbNTqV1ytDc2fA8hUz4 🔗 https://status.search.google.com/incidents/VbnSXAH4SmEcxPtx4YSD 🔗 https://status.search.google.com/incidents/7eTbAa2jWdToLkraZj5y Bing’s AI performance report 📊 https://blogs.bing.com/webmaster/February-2026/Introducing-AI-Performance-in-Bing-Webmaster-Tools-Public-Preview 📊 https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/blog/post/march-2026/the-ai-performance-dashboard-your-view-into-where-your-brand-appears-across-the-ai-web UCP and MCP 🛒 https://developer.chrome.com/blog/webmcp-epp 🛒 https://block.github.io/goose/blog/2026/03/17/webmcp-for-beginners/ 🛒 https://ppcnewsfeed.com/ppc-news/2026-03/google-publishes-help-page-universal-commerce-protocol/ 🛒 https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/shopping/ucp-updates/ Chapters 00:00 SEO news rundown 00:47 Google Discover Update 02:42 March Spam Update 03:43 March Core Update 05:15 Bing AI metrics debut 06:55 Inside AI Performance Report 11:03 New Bing AI metrics 14:42 WebMCP explained 18:06 UCP Agentic Checkout 20:43 UCP new features 22:45 Walmart vs ChatGPT conversions 25:02 Wrap up and next steps 25:44 Newsletter and event plug 27:16 Final thanks and teaser
1 hr 19 min
Alison Moss joins Search with Candour to discuss how to prioritise technical SEO fixes and get development tickets actioned. Together, they cover common pitfalls like lack of buy-in and unclear requirements, emphasising translating SEO needs into business outcomes and developer-friendly acceptance criteria, using ticket templates, and providing references. Alison explains prioritising by impact versus effort, helping teams order “high priority” items, and acknowledging SEO competes with other business priorities while building relationships with product and dev teams and supporting testing. Links 🔗Follow Alison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-moss-804a5537/ 🎫SearchNorwichXL early bird tickets: https://searchnorwich.org/ 🎟️Buy tickets for the Live podcast in Brighton: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-efficiency-paradox-why-al-doesnt-make-your-life-easier-live-podcast-tickets-1982302667641?aff=erelexpmlt Time stamps 00:00 Get your dev tickets prioritised with Alison Moss 01:28 Introduction 05:41 Why tech SEO gets stuck 08:29 Sell fixes for buy in 15:25 How to write clear dev tickets 22:06 Prioritise issues smartly 26:47 Pick your battles and quick wins 32:19 Frameworks and relationships 42:47 Handling senior pushback 47:53 Explaining SEO value 48:10 Writing better seo tickets 50:56 Developer context links 52:13 Resurrecting backlog work 54:26 Using external proof 56:42 Don’t be afraid to jump on a bandwagon 59:56 Recommendation: Actionable tip 01:01:08 Recommendation: Tools and software 01:03:06 Recommendation: Butter, Project Hail Mary and Dungeons & Dragons 01:15:06 Where to find Alison 01:16:36 Conclusion
1 hr 4 min
Jack Chambers Ward is joined by Jessica Bettis, Candour’s Director of Strategy, to discuss what makes a strong collaboration between SEO specialists and client partnership/account management. Jack and Jessica discuss their experience of working with clients together, and Jessica explains how client partners define success, translate work into business impact, manage resources and expectations, and nurture trust through onboarding and ongoing check-ins. Follow Jessica: Website: https://withcandour.co.uk/about/team/jessica-bettis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-bettis/ Jessica’s recommendations: Spend 5–10 minutes aligning before key meetings or responding to feedback. Maintain a dedicated, shared digital space for client context and information. Wuthering Heights (2026) 00:00 Welcome, Jessica Bettis 01:25 Important client partner traits 03:12 How to build respect and trust with your clients 05:18 Commercial context matters 10:20 Building client trust 11:48 Matching teams to clients 16:59 The behind-the-scenes value 24:57 Skills and training balance 30:21 Onboarding and roadmap 34:28 How to prevent client churn 37:10 Resource management 39:52 The joy of surprise rebrands 46:29 Upskilling and training clients 49:56 Team collaboration magic 52:29 Recommendation: Actionable tip 55:31 Recommendation: Tool/software 58:59 Recommendation: Wuthering Heights (2026) 01:04:10 Where to follow Jessica
1 hr 3 min
Jack Chambers Ward welcomes SEO consultant and Designmodo SEO Manager Bengü Sarıca Dinçer to discuss what marketers should track in GA4 as search shifts across AI summaries, social platforms, newsletters, communities, and private sharing. Bengü argues classic metrics like rankings and organic sessions are incomplete and recommends focusing on influence signals such as assisted conversions, branded search growth, returning users, engagement, and what she calls “content eco,” plus a move toward probabilistic attribution. Time stamps 00:00 Show Intro and Guest Tease 02:04 Meet Bengü Sarıca Dinçer 04:58 Why Metrics Must Change 07:52 Assisted Conversions Explained 10:23 Branded Search and Recall 14:10 Digital Archaeology for Visibility 17:16 Tracking AI Search Traffic 24:18 Measuring Informational Content 28:50 Dark Social and Private Sharing 33:10 Every Platform Is Search 34:24 Beyond Google Mindset 36:43 GA4 As Question Tool 37:32 Metrics Mislead Warning 40:56 Email Social SEO Mix 43:43 Audience Nurture Flywheel 45:27 GA4 Hidden Features 47:43 Map Discovery Paths 50:31 Clarity Heatmaps Wins 54:36 Sims And Web Analogy 59:20 Where To Follow Outro 01:01:48 Episode Wrap Next Week