Host: Sean Barber — https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrbarber/ (He/Him)

In this Real Talk With Sean episode, I'm joined by Simon Cox, Andy Strager, Tory Gray and Kristine Schachinger for a wide-ranging discussion on where the web is heading — the future of websites, the agentic web, AI security, how to stay sane in a noisy industry, getting dev work over the line, and the big one: whether we should hit pause on AI at all.

We look at what online companies might look like in three years, why the web will endure but matter differently, the coming wave of agent-driven security problems, how to cut through the daily noise of updates, the real techniques for getting dev tickets prioritised (and winning over the C-level), and a genuinely open debate on AI's environmental, surveillance, jobs and safety trade-offs.

My Guests:

Simon Cox — https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonmcox/

Andy Strager — https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-strager/

Tory Gray — https://www.linkedin.com/in/torygray/

Kristine Schachinger — https://www.linkedin.com/in/kschachinger-seo/

Topics Covered:

- The Web in Three Years: Whether websites survive the AI era, why corporate sites may consolidate, and what's left when retrieval stops being the point

- The Agentic Web & Bot-to-Bot Activity: The infrastructure layer that still needs building, WebMCP, and why some categories of SaaS may actually grow

- Agent Security & the Coming Wave of Hacks: Why agents are fundamentally insecure, real breach examples, and why trust may be the biggest brake on adoption

- Is the Web Still Worth Exploring?: The "samey" templated internet, where the interesting pockets still live (the Fediverse), and whether the Wild West is really over

- Staying Sane in a Noisy Industry: How each guest actually keeps up with Google updates and AI news without drowning — and why "staying in your lane" matters

- Getting Dev Tickets Over the Line: Speaking the dev's language, giving them workable detail, and making their job easier instead of harder

- Winning Buy-In & Beating the C-Level Blocker: Translating SEO into business impact, securing executive sign-off, and why the hardest person to convince is often at the top

- Would You Hit Pause on AI?: An honest panel debate on whether we should stop, slow down, or keep going

- AI, Data Centres & the Environment: Responsible vs cheap data centres, the real local impact, and the energy cost of the AI boom

- Surveillance, Military & AI's Real Revenue: Why the current money is in surveillance and military, cognitive offload, and the case for stronger guardrails

- AI, Jobs & the Missing Juniors: Why pausing could give humans time to retrain — and which jobs actually survive

Thank you to our partners:

SEO Gets, the easy-to-use analytics and reporting tool for your GSC & GA4 data.

Be sure to check out the tool and use code search10 for 10% off: https://seogets.com/

Linkavista — A backlink marketplace built for SEOs who want more transparency. With access to thousands of websites, real traffic insights through Google Search Console connections, and an easier way to find relevant opportunities.

Use code SEAN10 for 10% extra credit on your first order: https://linkavista.com/

Host: Sean Barber – https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrbarber/ – He/Him

In this episode of Search With Sean, I’m joined by a panel of experienced local SEO experts to discuss how local search is changing, the growing impact of AI and what businesses should be focusing on to improve their local visibility today.

Joining me for this discussion are:

Darren Shaw – https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenshawwhitespark/

Greg Gifford – https://www.linkedin.com/in/greggifford/

Joy Hawkins – https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyhawkins/

Daniel Brooks – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmbrooks/

Dayna Lucio – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dayna-lucio-90749028/

The panel discuss:

- What's changed most in local SEO over the last 12 months

- AI Local Packs and the changing Google search results

- Why reviews, recency and review diversification matter

- How AI is changing the local customer journey

- Google vs ChatGPT and other AI platforms for local search

- Why traditional local SEO is no longer enough

- Building visibility across websites, listings, social platforms and third-party sources

- Local content strategies for both traditional and AI search

- Brand and entity consistency across different platforms

- What businesses should prioritise in local SEO today

Topics covered include:

- Google Business Profiles and Local Packs

- AI search and local visibility

- Google vs ChatGPT for local discovery

- Reviews, review recency and third-party review platforms

- Multi-location and enterprise local SEO

- Awards and third-party recognition

- Local content and audience pain points

- FAQs, query fan-outs and content freshness

- Entity and brand consistency

- Local listings and citations

- Measuring local SEO beyond rankings and clicks- The changing local customer journey

⭐ Special offer from Darren Shaw / Whitespark

Try Whitespark's Local Ranking Grids for free at https://whitespark.ca/ and get 50% off your first month for any paid plan with promo code: seanbarber50

Thank you to our partners:

SEO Gets, the easy-to-use analytics and reporting tool for your GSC & GA4 data. Be sure to check out the tool and use code search10 for 10% off:https://seogets.com/

Linkavista — A backlink marketplace built for SEOs who want more transparency. With access to thousands of websites, real traffic insights through Google Search Console connections, and an easier way to find relevant opportunities.

Use code SEAN10 for 10% extra credit on your first order:https://linkavista.com/

Host: Sean Barber – https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrbarber/ – He/Him

In this episode of Search With Sean, I’m joined by a panel of experienced digital PR experts to discuss what makes a successful digital PR campaign today, how AI is changing the industry and how smaller brands can generate meaningful coverage without enormous budgets.

Joining me for this discussion are:

James Roach – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesroachpr/

Thomas Chivers – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomchivers/

Pat Ahern – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pahern/

The panel discuss:

- The digital PR campaigns delivering the strongest results right now

- Why reactive PR and expert commentary have become so effective

- How brands can create genuinely useful and newsworthy campaigns

- Using AI without losing authentic expert insight

- How to stand out in increasingly crowded journalist inboxes

- The growing problem of fake AI-generated experts

- Whether paywalls reduce the value of digital PR coverage

- How smaller brands can achieve results with limited budgets

Topics covered include:

- Why traditional “best cities for…” campaigns are losing their impact

- Combining different datasets to create useful and original stories

- Preparing expert commentary before major news events

- Building commentary banks through recorded client conversations

- Using Claude, NotebookLM and transcription tools to organise expert knowledge

- Keeping creativity and first-hand experience at the centre of PR

- Testing subject lines, pitches and expert credentials- Creating “proof of life” packs to verify genuine experts

- AI detection, watermarks and the risk of false positives

- Measuring brand awareness and SEO value beyond direct traffic

- Using reactive PR, Google Trends and proprietary data on smaller budgets

Thank you to our partners:

SEO Gets, the easy-to-use analytics and reporting tool for your GSC & GA4 data.

Be sure to check out the tool and use code search10 for 10% off: https://seogets.com/

Linkavista — A backlink marketplace built for SEOs who want more transparency. With access to thousands of websites, real traffic insights through Google Search Console connections, and an easier way to find relevant opportunities.

Use code SEAN10 for 10% extra credit on your first order:https://linkavista.com/