Search with Candour

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384

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Season 5 - The AI Series, launches in October 2026, focusing on AI search optimisation and GEO. Every Monday, Jack Chambers-Ward brings you the latest SEO and AI search news as well as interviews with the world's leading SEO and GEO experts. We'll keep you up-to-date and ready to start your working week. For previous episodes, visit https://withcandour.co.uk/podcast

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60 recent

November 2, 2026Episode 41 hr 7 min

Debunking AI Search Myths: Measurement, “Direct” Traffic, and Location Signals (with André Pitì)

Jack is joined by SEOritmo’s André Pitì to bust common AI search myths. Topics discussed and myths busted: Why AI visibility metrics are modelled estimates rather than exact numbers. How tools infer AI Overview and AI platform volumes Why spikes in direct traffic don’t automatically indicate AI traffic How to investigate direct traffic by URL patterns Segmenting AI-related signals by geography And more Follow André Website: https://seoritmo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-piti/ Founding agency programme: https://beta.seoritmo.com/ Chapters 00:00 AI Search myth busting 01:51 Introduction 03:33 Meet André Pitì 04:45 Why these myths need busting 08:16 Myth one: AI visibility metrics 09:58 How tools model search volumes 17:22 Myth two: Direct traffic spikes = AI traffic 19:24 Practical tracking fixes 25:23 Cross referencing signals 30:21 Segmenting AI traffic by location 33:22 GSC location pitfalls 35:58 Not all long queries are prompts 39:15 GA4 location segmentation 41:27 Avoiding bad GEO signals 45:33 Completing the puzzle of AI search optimisation 49:28 Technical readiness for crawlers 51:52 Cross department alignment 54:31 Recommendation: Actionable tip 56:30 Recommendation: SEO tools for AI visibility 58:38 Recommendation: Music and martial arts 01:05:23 Wrap up

October 26, 2026Episode 355 min

Can you automate an SEO agency with AI? How to build Claude skills and agent workflows for SEO

John Morabito is the founder of Winston Digital Marketing and SVP of Search Innovation at Stellar Rising. Expect to learn how to automate SEO work using AI, including Claude skills, connectors, and multi-agent workflows. John shares experiments where agents create and publish content from call transcripts and other inputs, driving major traffic growth and increased leads, while stressing the need for human oversight throughout. 00:00 Can AI run an SEO agency? 01:27 Introduction 03:38 Welcome, John Morabito 04:43 Claude Skills Origins 06:55 The Winston testing lab 08:49 Agentic blog post creation 11:02 How traffic leads to results 15:05 From content to revenue 18:02 Keeping humans at the centre 18:40 Agency automation ideas 23:09 How to align deliverables 27:16 Maintaining guardrails for AI 31:45 Local search reality check 33:47 Use regulations when building AI skills 35:15 Why agencies still matter 38:10 Inside the content pipeline 41:06 Interview your clients to get expertise 43:59 Skills vs workflows 46:22 Recommendation: Actionable tip 48:22 Recommendation: SEO tool 50:58 Recommendation: Something fun 53:35 Where to follow John 54:32 Episode wrap-up Follow John: Website: https://www.winstondigitalmarketing.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-morabito-29459655/ The new rules of search: https://www.winstondigitalmarketing.com/whitepapers/the-new-rules-of-search/

October 19, 2026Episode 257 min

AI search with Nathan Gotch: Citations vs rankings, GEO vs SEO demand and AI SEO for dummies

Nathan Gotch joins Search with Candour to discuss the state of AI search in 2026. Topics include: how the demand for GEO and AI search optimisation has grown recently how much traditional SEO rankings and AI search citations crossover the fragmentation of search across different AI search engines Follow Nathan: Get Nathan’s book ‘AI SEO for dummies’: https://www.amazon.co.uk/AI-SEO-Dummies-Nathan-Gotch/dp/1394418981 The Rankability study: https://www.rankability.com/blog/ai-search-statistics/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nathangotch Chapters 00:00 The state of AI search 01:48 Introduction 03:34 Welcome, Nathan Gotch 05:55 Study methodology 07:57 ChatGPT citations don’t match the SERPs 12:03 one category marketing playbook 15:17 UGC and agent-led outreach 19:48 The demand shift 24:13 How to sell AI SEO to clients 28:11 Is SEO still SEO? 28:46 Do backlinks still matter? 30:00 Why AI needs more than traditional search 32:17 Authority and inventory gaps 37:18 AI vs Google quality filters 39:23 Taking the kitchen sink approach 41:59 Do title tags still matter? 46:21 Reviews as a top priority 49:08 Recommendations 53:18 Wrap up

October 12, 20261 hr 1 min

Ditch hustle culture to build career longevity (Live podcast at ⁨Komedia in Brighton - 7 October 2026)

This live podcast event brings together The SEO Mindset and Search with Candour podcasts at Komedia in Brighton. The trio of hosts explore mixed feelings about hustle culture, its long-term harm, burnout and disconnection and redefining success beyond productivity. They also share practical steps for career longevity: intentional planning, setting boundaries, routines, self-reflection, and listening to your body to know when hard work is worth it and when to rest. Sponsored by SISTRIX: https://www.sistrix.com/ Sponsored by Majestic: https://majestic.com/ Follow The SEO Mindset podcast: https://theseomindset.co.uk/ Chapters 00:00 Live show kickoff 00:34 Meet the hosts 04:08 Sponsored by SISTRIX and Majestic 10:29 What is hustle culture? 16:28 Pressure and burnout 23:59 Redefining success 27:49 Career longevity goals 32:10 Intentional career choices 34:13 Burnout to better fit 38:21 Freelance flexibility tradeoffs 40:40 Routines and boundaries 47:10 Journaling and self-insight 48:34 Finding your ikigai 50:17 Enjoy your hobbies without pressure 53:39 Start small and learn 55:27 Key takeaways wrap up 59:48 Where to find us

October 5, 2026Episode 11 hr 12 min

SEO vs GEO: Which Traditional SEO Tactics Still Work for AI Search? (with Charlie Whitworth)

Welcome to season 5 of Search with Candour! Jack sits down with SEO veteran Charlie Whitworth to discuss whether SEO and “GEO” are essentially the same and which traditional SEO strategies still work for AI search. Follow Charlie Whitworth SEO: https://www.whitworthseo.com/ HIVE MCR: https://hive-mcr.co.uk/ AIR SEO: https://www.whitworthseo.com/air-seo-ai-ready-seo-campaigns/ LinkedIn: h ttps://www.linkedin.com/in/the-authentic-seo/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/whitworthseo.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hivemcr/ Chapters 00:00 Highlight 01:36 Introduction 04:27 Meet Charlie Whitworth 05:33 Why this matters now 10:43 Good SEO = Good GEO 14:05 GEO bro debate 15:56 Data and measurement 21:46 KPIs that still matter 25:12 Technical SEO still wins 27:28 Content structure for LLMs 35:46 Pruning and cannibalisation 38:40 Content pruning done right 41:06 Brand mentions vs backlinks 44:34 Good products beat spam 47:07 Old tactics you need to stop 49:03 Testing and reprioritising 51:03 No silver bullets for GEO 56:39 Ignore the noise 58:11 Cloudflare bot settings 01:01:18 Recommendations: Log file analysis 01:05:03 Recommendation tool: WAIKAY 01:07:22 Fun recommendation: The Streets 01:08:40 Wrap up

September 28, 2026Episode 9017 min

SEO and AI News Roundup: Google’s /goto Redirects, GSC AI Reports, PAA Goes AI & Publisher Payment Pilot Program

Recorded the day after the first SearchNorwichXL, this episode recaps the last four weeks of SEO news from the Core Updates newsletter: Google rolling out google.com/goto pass-through URLs to deter scraping amid the SERP API lawsuit (with rank-tracking tools finding workarounds); Google Search Console’s generative AI performance reporting rolling out globally, showing impressions for AI Overviews/AI Mode, alongside a toggle to opt sites out of generative AI features without affecting organic rankings; data suggesting nearly all People Also Ask results are AI-generated; and a Google AI Contribution pilot in Search Console that tests paying publishers when their content significantly contributes to AI-generated responses in Gemini, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. News stories https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-goto-tracking-41957.html https://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-ai-performance-reports-and-search-generative-ai-control-rolling-out-globally-486269 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7503164423075725313/ https://9to5google.com/2026/09/17/google-ai-contribution-pilot-tests-paying-websites-when-theyre-used-in-ai-results/ Chapters 00:00 Welcome and recap 01:11 SearchNorwichXL highlights 02:15 September 2026 news 02:40 Google’s new goto redirect URLs 05:26 GSC AI reports rollout 08:42 AI Overviews takeover People Also Ask 11:15 Google pilots new publisher payment program 15:44 Season five teaser 17:21 Wrap up

September 21, 2026Episode 891 hr 42 min

Building a Personal Brand (Without Being Cringe) | Search With Candour x Indie Business Club

Jack Chambers-Ward hosts a crossover episode of Search With Candour with Mel Barfield from Indie Business Club, discussing personal branding through shared interests, authenticity, and community. The conversation covers balancing personal brand with employed work, using hobbies (ranging from board games and films to music and cheese) to create relatable connections, and how small signals like presenting yourself authentically can create new connections. Jack & Mel also discuss how who you work with affects your brand reputation and why being nerdy about the things you care about is so important. Follow Mel: Website: https://allcopymel.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniebarfield/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0DTopTvMDkklkmpAfshIjW Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@indiebusinessclubpod Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:25 How Jack and Mel met 03:23 Freelancing advice 09:05 Building your brand with podcasting 14:42 Nerd Signals That Connect 16:14 Board games and playtime 21:21 Content consumption habits 24:08 Band t-shirts and relatability 25:58 Cheese discussion 30:49 The ethics of who you work with 33:17 LinkedIn gurus 35:55 Choose your clients carefully 42:31 Should you niche down? 44:21 Essentialism and focus 48:38 Futureproof your personal brand 53:44 How to be relatable 59:19 See It. Say It. Sorted. 01:04:45 Hobbies create connections and opportunities 01:08:19 Align your personal brand with your values 01:09:41 Find your audience 01:11:33 Don’t write like your audience is children (unless they’re children) 01:14:46 Curiosity builds rapport 01:18:39 Being nerdy works 01:22:46 Building a brand while employed 01:27:20 Conference recognition 01:29:21 Hot takes on LinkedIn 01:34:13 Wrap up 01:41:42 Where to follow us

September 14, 2026Episode 8449 min

Automating SEO With ChatGPT + Python (Seb Atkinson) & Google Exploit Insights (Mark Williams-Cook) | Search with Candour

🌟 SearchNorwichXL - 24 September 2026: https://searchnorwich.org/ 🎟️Get your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/searchnorwichxl-a-one-day-seo-conference-with-world-class-speakers-tickets-1985283700992?discount=podcast Jack Chambers-Ward previews SearchNorwichXLand shares two talks from past SearchNorwich events: First, Seb Atkinson shows how ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter is the cheat code you need to start automating SEO tasks and improve your data analysis abilities using Python - no prior coding skills required! Seb discusses the kinds of SEO activities you can automate with Python and how to use ChatGPT to get started, including what tools to use, example projects and prompts, how to resolve errors, and how to use ChatGPT to develop your own coding skills. Second, Mark Williams-Cook from Search Norwich 19, explains why using conceptual models is doing "advanced SEO" and what he learned from the Google exploit he discovered last year. Also, Mark describes how SEO is just like the video Theme Park (yes, seriously) ⌚ Time stamps 00:00 Introduction 02:39 ChatGPT's Code Interpreter: Your secret weapon for SEO automation success - Seb Atkinson 20:33 Improving your SEO with conceptual models - Mark Williams-Cook 47:03 Wrap Up

September 7, 2026Episode 8729 min

August 2026 SEO and AI News: EU AI transparency law, Claude watermarks, Google’s anti-scraping URLs

Topics discussed: New EU transparency rules requiring clear labelling of AI-generated or AI-altered content across formats Microsoft Clarity is adding branded vs non-branded segmentation for AI query/citation reporting and share of authority Anthropic’s Claude embedding watermarks/metadata Google is expanding AI Mode with interactive visualisations, quizzes, Lens learning features, and Notebook/Gemini integrations Google is introducing google.com/goto redirecting tracking URLs aimed at reducing scraping abuse, with major rank-tracking tools saying it doesn’t impact tracking data News stories: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/02/ai-generated-label-becomes-mandatory-in-the-eu-for-companies https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/branded-non-branded-queries/ https://www.cloudflare.com/press/press-releases/2026/cloudflare-adds-aeo-visibility-dashboard-to-its-aeo-suite-showing-brands-whether-ai-assistants-are-recommending-them/ https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16266773-how-claude-marks-ai-generated-content https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-goto-tracking-41957.html Time stamps 00:00 Coming up on the show 00:26 Introduction 01:45 EU AI-labelling rules 06:31 Microsoft Clarity AI brand query filters 11:31 Claude watermarking update 15:45 Google AI visual tools 22:49 Google anti-scraping URLs 25:54 What’s coming up on season 5 28:05 Wrap up

August 31, 2026Episode 8651 min

SearchNorwichXL Preview: SEO talks from Arnout Hellemans and Brendan Bennett

Jack Chambers-Ward continues the hype for SearchNorwichXL by highlighting talks from Arnout Hellemans and Brendan Bennett, who will be speaking at SearchNorwichXL. Arnout’s talk from SearchNorwich 16 is titled ‘How to work on your SEO without paying for tools’, and Brendan’s talk from SearchNorwich 19 is titled ‘It’s not me, it’s you: Why your SEO or agency (probably) hates you’ 🎟️ Get 25% off SearchNorwichXL tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/searchnorwichxl-tickets-1985283700992?discount=podcast Chapters 00:00 Introduction 03:19 Arnout Hellemans’ talk 23:43 In-between talks 24:26 Brendan Bennett’s talk 49:18 Wrap up