How is SEO really changing in 2025? In this episode of Real Talk With Sean, I’m joined by Liv Day, Gerry White, and Itamar Blauer to look at the biggest shifts in digital marketing.We look at:- The impact of Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode- Why old-school tactics like listicles are making a comeback- How brand building is more crucial than ever in search- Whether challenger brands still have a chance against established players-- Where SEOs should focus when resources are tight - from Reddit to YouTube to TikTokIt’s a straight-talking, no-nonsense look at what’s working, what isn’t, and where search is headed next.About my guests - Itamar Blauer – Senior SEO Director at StudioHawk and host of the SEO Unplugged podcast.Liv Day – SEO Lead at creative search agency Digitaloft.Gerry White – Influential SEO consultant, recently described as an “unconventional innovator.”Related Link - https://www.searchwithsean.com/post/navigating-seo-ai-in-2025-trends-tools-and-the-future-survey-resultshttps://www.searchwithsean.com/

In this special episode, I’m joined by Emilija Gjorgjevska, Gus Pelogia, Tom Winter, and Sara Taher for a discussion on vibe coding, the fast-emerging approach to building tools, automations and workflows using natural language and AI.We break down how SEOs can now “code without coding,” why logic and system thinking are more important than syntax, and how to avoid the trap of automating things you don’t understand. This episode is packed with practical examples, tool recommendations, and honest reflections on what’s working (and what’s not) in the world of AI and SEO.Topics include:- What is vibe coding - and how is it changing SEO development?- AI agents, embeddings, clustering, and automation without being a developer- The difference between real innovation vs “LLM wrappers”- Open source tools, internal linking graphs, and building SOPs with AI- How SEOs at every level can start experimenting with AI workflowsHuge thanks to my fantastic guests:Emilija Gjorgjevska – https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilijagjorgjevska/ https://github.com/martech-engineer/WebKnoGraphhttps://github.com/seontology/seontologyGus Pelogia – https://www.linkedin.com/in/gpelogia/Tom Winter – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-winter/ & https://seowind.io/Sara Taher – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-seo-specialist/ & https://www.sara-taher.com/Tools Discussed:ChatGPT - https://chatgpt.com/Claude Code - https://www.anthropic.com/claude-codePerplexity - https://www.perplexity.ai/Gemini (Google) - https://gemini.google.com/appGoogle AI Studio - https://aistudio.google.com/prompts/new_chatNotebookLM - https://notebooklm.google.com/Replit - https://replit.com/Streamlit - https://streamlit.io/Relay.App - https://www.relay.app/Screaming Frog - https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/Zapier - https://zapier.com/Google Colab - https://colab.research.google.com/GitHub -https://github.com/Related Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZiPEOFnK1ohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWrH8oop8RU&t=1979s

In this episode, I’m joined by SEO experts Yordan Dimitrov, Nikki Halliwell, Mark Williams-Cook, and Dave Cousin to explore some of the biggest questions in the world of digital marketing right now.

We dig into the real challenges SEOs face today - from conflicting advice and overhyped strategies to the value (or not) of backlinks and SEO tools in 2025.

We also discussed -

- What SEO advice is still worth following - and what should we ignore?

- Is SEO becoming overpriced or misunderstood by clients and businesses?

- What role will websites actually play in the next 3 - 4 years?

It’s a mix of straight-talking insights, industry experience, and a look ahead at where digital marketing is going. I really enjoyed recording this one - big thanks again to my fantastic guests for sharing their time and insights.

About my guests -

Dave Cousin - Founder of Dave the SEO & Co. Dave is a high end SEO & Organic Search Consultant and Trainer. Bringing 20 years of experience to the table!

Mark Williams-Cook - Digital Marketing Director at digital agency Candour and founder of AlsoAsked.

Nikki Halliwell - Senior Technical SEO Manager at Journey Further, co founder of TechSEO North and she also has a great newsletter!

Yordan Dimitrov - Currently SEO Manager at digital marketing agency Reflect Digital and soon to be Brighton SEO speaker!

https://www.searchwithsean.com/