Search News You Can Use - SEO Podcast with Marie Haynes
Marie Haynes
201 episodes
5 months ago
It was an honour to attend Google I/O in person.
Search is changing radically! Google called it a new era of Search with Gemini 2.5 at its core.
This podcast episode was recorded live.
Stay up to date on AI with my newsletter: https://mariehaynes.com/newsletter
Immediate updates on important AI and SEO news in my community, the Search Bar: https://community.mariehaynes.com/spaces/11879397/feed
0:00 – 0:51 Welcome & recap of Google I/O invitation, outline of the live episode’s agenda
0:51 – 1:55 Screen-share setup; meeting Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin anecdotes
2:40 – 4:15 What AI Mode is, why Google may replace “classic” search, and the query fan-out patent
4:15 – 6:02 How clicks train AI Mode; demo showing 59 source sites and the result carousel
7:03 – 9:14 Ethics of Google using web content; E-E-A-T impact on carousel inclusion
9:55 – 12:22 Accuracy, hallucinations, feedback buttons, and why original content matters
14:00 – 17:21 Freshness signals, library analogy for originality, Gemini Live phone demo
17:21 – 27:55 Gemini AR glasses test, personal-context search & privacy implications
32:21 – 35:22 Gemini in Chrome: on-page AI assistance, summarisation, e-commerce concerns
35:22 – 40:47 Project Mariner: browser agents that automate multitab workflows; job impact
40:47 – 43:59 Agent Mode & agent-to-agent checkout; custom charts/graphs in AI Mode
43:59 – 50:52 Deep Search (multi-query research) and uploading your own files for reports
50:52 – 54:42 E-commerce upgrades: “Try it On” virtual fitting, price-tracking, “Buy for Me” with Google Pay, Wing drone delivery
54:42 – 57:00 Gemini V3 multimodal video creation, Flow editor, AI content production costs
57:00 – 60:00 Google’s universal AI assistant vision, coming hardware, and industry upheaval
60:00 – 61:00 Sergey Brin on the web’s unpredictability ten years out; reflections on accelerating change
61:00 – 62:27 Dario Amodei’s forecast of 20 % unemployment from AI; balancing fear with opportunity
62:27 – 63:50 Learning-curve discussion: experiment daily, let Gemini/ChatGPT tutor you step by step
63:50 – 66:00 Question on falling organic clicks: focus on conversions, cite Will Reynolds’ data, report revenue over raw traffic
66:00 – 67:12 Who gets credit—SEO or CRO? Rebranding SEO as AIO/GEO and outlining the evolving practitioner role
67:12 – 68:32 Brand building beyond Wikipedia: podcasts, social presence, authoritative mentions; example of podcast mention boosting AI-overview visibility
68:32 – 69:20 LLMs.txt debate: no major model honors it yet, so implementing it is likely wasted effort
69:20 – 70:10 Server-log analysis of AI bots: seeing ByteDance and others, limited actionable value beyond selective blocking
70:10 – 71:10 Google Agent Space: 100-seat minimum, use cases for large agencies (onboarding, HR, process agents)
71:10 – 72:10 MCP for e-commerce customization tools; preparing your site for future agent-to-agent APIs
72:10 – 73:20 Speculation that many third-party agent frameworks will fade once Google/OpenAI integrate agents natively
73:20 – 74:10 Community learning benefits; SEO skillset as problem-solving edge in the AI era
74:10 – 75:25 Overview of the Search Bar Pro community, tutorials, “happy hour” discussions, member advantages
75:25 – 76:50 Coping with upheaval: lamplighter analogy, choosing optimism, hunting for new opportunities
76:50 – 78:00 Closing remarks: upcoming talks on BCIs and agents
78:00 – 87:08 Final chat exchanges, farewells, and session wrap-up
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It was an honour to attend Google I/O in person.
Search is changing radically! Google called it a new era of Search with Gemini 2.5 at its core.
This podcast episode was recorded live.
Stay up to date on AI with my newsletter: https://mariehaynes.com/newsletter
Immediate updates on important AI and SEO news in my community, the Search Bar: https://community.mariehaynes.com/spaces/11879397/feed
0:00 – 0:51 Welcome & recap of Google I/O invitation, outline of the live episode’s agenda
0:51 – 1:55 Screen-share setup; meeting Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin anecdotes
2:40 – 4:15 What AI Mode is, why Google may replace “classic” search, and the query fan-out patent
4:15 – 6:02 How clicks train AI Mode; demo showing 59 source sites and the result carousel
7:03 – 9:14 Ethics of Google using web content; E-E-A-T impact on carousel inclusion
9:55 – 12:22 Accuracy, hallucinations, feedback buttons, and why original content matters
14:00 – 17:21 Freshness signals, library analogy for originality, Gemini Live phone demo
17:21 – 27:55 Gemini AR glasses test, personal-context search & privacy implications
32:21 – 35:22 Gemini in Chrome: on-page AI assistance, summarisation, e-commerce concerns
35:22 – 40:47 Project Mariner: browser agents that automate multitab workflows; job impact
40:47 – 43:59 Agent Mode & agent-to-agent checkout; custom charts/graphs in AI Mode
43:59 – 50:52 Deep Search (multi-query research) and uploading your own files for reports
50:52 – 54:42 E-commerce upgrades: “Try it On” virtual fitting, price-tracking, “Buy for Me” with Google Pay, Wing drone delivery
54:42 – 57:00 Gemini V3 multimodal video creation, Flow editor, AI content production costs
57:00 – 60:00 Google’s universal AI assistant vision, coming hardware, and industry upheaval
60:00 – 61:00 Sergey Brin on the web’s unpredictability ten years out; reflections on accelerating change
61:00 – 62:27 Dario Amodei’s forecast of 20 % unemployment from AI; balancing fear with opportunity
62:27 – 63:50 Learning-curve discussion: experiment daily, let Gemini/ChatGPT tutor you step by step
63:50 – 66:00 Question on falling organic clicks: focus on conversions, cite Will Reynolds’ data, report revenue over raw traffic
66:00 – 67:12 Who gets credit—SEO or CRO? Rebranding SEO as AIO/GEO and outlining the evolving practitioner role
67:12 – 68:32 Brand building beyond Wikipedia: podcasts, social presence, authoritative mentions; example of podcast mention boosting AI-overview visibility
68:32 – 69:20 LLMs.txt debate: no major model honors it yet, so implementing it is likely wasted effort
69:20 – 70:10 Server-log analysis of AI bots: seeing ByteDance and others, limited actionable value beyond selective blocking
70:10 – 71:10 Google Agent Space: 100-seat minimum, use cases for large agencies (onboarding, HR, process agents)
71:10 – 72:10 MCP for e-commerce customization tools; preparing your site for future agent-to-agent APIs
72:10 – 73:20 Speculation that many third-party agent frameworks will fade once Google/OpenAI integrate agents natively
73:20 – 74:10 Community learning benefits; SEO skillset as problem-solving edge in the AI era
74:10 – 75:25 Overview of the Search Bar Pro community, tutorials, “happy hour” discussions, member advantages
75:25 – 76:50 Coping with upheaval: lamplighter analogy, choosing optimism, hunting for new opportunities
76:50 – 78:00 Closing remarks: upcoming talks on BCIs and agents
78:00 – 87:08 Final chat exchanges, farewells, and session wrap-up
How Google's Helpful Content System Has Radically Changed Search
Search News You Can Use - SEO Podcast with Marie Haynes
53 minutes 6 seconds
2 years ago
How Google's Helpful Content System Has Radically Changed Search
In this long-awaited return episode of Search News, Dr. Marie Haynes explains how Google's helpful content system has radically changed search rankings.
She provides background on her experience studying Google's algorithms for over 16 years, and how the company has shifted to relying more on AI systems like helpful content rather than just links and keywords.
Marie walks through the evolution of major algorithm updates like Panda and Penguin, and what they revealed about Google's capabilities and focus on content quality. She explains how machine learning models can now predict helpful content, with training data from quality raters.
The episode provides real-world examples of sites that were impacted by recent helpful content updates, and what specific changes Google rewarded. Marie also offers advice for those struggling with helpful content suppression and wanting to better align with Google's criteria.
This episode will completely change your understanding of modern search rankings, and what you should prioritize on your site for visibility and traffic in 2023 and beyond. Don't miss Marie's long-awaited insider perspective on Google's helpful content!
More from Marie:
Purchase my workbook to help you assess your content and improve its helpfulness
https://www.mariehaynes.com/product/creating-helpful-content-workbook/
Have me assess your site:
https://www.mariehaynes.com/work-with-marie/
Book time on my calendar to brainstorm with me about your site:
https://calendly.com/mariehaynes/brainstorming-with-marie?
Links mentioned in this episode:
https://www.mariehaynes.com/newsletter/episode-295/ (Latest episode of newsletter where we discuss Project Tailwind/NotebookLM)
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content (Google’s Guidance on creating helpful content)
https://searchengineland.com/whats-now-next-with-google-search-smx-next-keynote-389628 (Barry Schwartz and HJ Kim interview)
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality (Panda questions)
https://www.mariehaynes.com/google-ai-systems/ (My article on how the helpful content system works)
https://moz.com/blog/nine-years-of-google-algorithm (Dr. Pete Myers heatmap showing Penguin algo turbulence)
https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/02/what-is-chatgpt-doing-and-why-does-it-work/ (understanding the math behind systems like the helpful content system)
https://www.mariehaynes.com/what-we-know-about-googles-quality-raters/ How raters rate sites.
Search News You Can Use - SEO Podcast with Marie Haynes
It was an honour to attend Google I/O in person.
Search is changing radically! Google called it a new era of Search with Gemini 2.5 at its core.
This podcast episode was recorded live.
Stay up to date on AI with my newsletter: https://mariehaynes.com/newsletter
Immediate updates on important AI and SEO news in my community, the Search Bar: https://community.mariehaynes.com/spaces/11879397/feed
0:00 – 0:51 Welcome & recap of Google I/O invitation, outline of the live episode’s agenda
0:51 – 1:55 Screen-share setup; meeting Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin anecdotes
2:40 – 4:15 What AI Mode is, why Google may replace “classic” search, and the query fan-out patent
4:15 – 6:02 How clicks train AI Mode; demo showing 59 source sites and the result carousel
7:03 – 9:14 Ethics of Google using web content; E-E-A-T impact on carousel inclusion
9:55 – 12:22 Accuracy, hallucinations, feedback buttons, and why original content matters
14:00 – 17:21 Freshness signals, library analogy for originality, Gemini Live phone demo
17:21 – 27:55 Gemini AR glasses test, personal-context search & privacy implications
32:21 – 35:22 Gemini in Chrome: on-page AI assistance, summarisation, e-commerce concerns
35:22 – 40:47 Project Mariner: browser agents that automate multitab workflows; job impact
40:47 – 43:59 Agent Mode & agent-to-agent checkout; custom charts/graphs in AI Mode
43:59 – 50:52 Deep Search (multi-query research) and uploading your own files for reports
50:52 – 54:42 E-commerce upgrades: “Try it On” virtual fitting, price-tracking, “Buy for Me” with Google Pay, Wing drone delivery
54:42 – 57:00 Gemini V3 multimodal video creation, Flow editor, AI content production costs
57:00 – 60:00 Google’s universal AI assistant vision, coming hardware, and industry upheaval
60:00 – 61:00 Sergey Brin on the web’s unpredictability ten years out; reflections on accelerating change
61:00 – 62:27 Dario Amodei’s forecast of 20 % unemployment from AI; balancing fear with opportunity
62:27 – 63:50 Learning-curve discussion: experiment daily, let Gemini/ChatGPT tutor you step by step
63:50 – 66:00 Question on falling organic clicks: focus on conversions, cite Will Reynolds’ data, report revenue over raw traffic
66:00 – 67:12 Who gets credit—SEO or CRO? Rebranding SEO as AIO/GEO and outlining the evolving practitioner role
67:12 – 68:32 Brand building beyond Wikipedia: podcasts, social presence, authoritative mentions; example of podcast mention boosting AI-overview visibility
68:32 – 69:20 LLMs.txt debate: no major model honors it yet, so implementing it is likely wasted effort
69:20 – 70:10 Server-log analysis of AI bots: seeing ByteDance and others, limited actionable value beyond selective blocking
70:10 – 71:10 Google Agent Space: 100-seat minimum, use cases for large agencies (onboarding, HR, process agents)
71:10 – 72:10 MCP for e-commerce customization tools; preparing your site for future agent-to-agent APIs
72:10 – 73:20 Speculation that many third-party agent frameworks will fade once Google/OpenAI integrate agents natively
73:20 – 74:10 Community learning benefits; SEO skillset as problem-solving edge in the AI era
74:10 – 75:25 Overview of the Search Bar Pro community, tutorials, “happy hour” discussions, member advantages
75:25 – 76:50 Coping with upheaval: lamplighter analogy, choosing optimism, hunting for new opportunities
76:50 – 78:00 Closing remarks: upcoming talks on BCIs and agents
78:00 – 87:08 Final chat exchanges, farewells, and session wrap-up
