Search with Candour

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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

  1. 5 DAYS AGO

    SEO News Recap: Google Discover & Core Updates, Bing AI Performance Metrics, Web MCP & UCP (Agentic Commerce)

    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

    28 min

  2. 30 MAR

    How to get technical SEO tickets prioritised & shipped | Alison Moss

    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

    1hr 19min
  3. The key to client partnerships in SEO | Jessica Bettis

    23 MAR

    The key to client partnerships in SEO | Jessica Bettis

    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

    1hr 5min

  4. 16 MAR

    GA4 for 2026: Attribution, AI Search Metrics & Digital Archaeology with Bengü Sarıca Dinçer | Search With Candour

    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

    1hr 3min

  5. 9 MAR

    Using AI responsibly in digital marketing and podcasting | Sarah McDowell

    Jack Chambers Ward welcomes returning guest Sarah McDowell from The SEO Mindset Podcast to discuss AI and LLMs and how they’re responsibly integrating them into their work processes. Jack & Sarah share AI usage stats, note the split between adopters and non-adopters, and cover concerns including environmental impact, big tech/data issues, hallucinations and fabricated reporting, and the need for clearer disclosure when AI is used. They describe practical, cautious uses of tools like Descript and Riverside for transcription, clip creation, repurposing, research, and rewriting emails, stressing AI as a tool that still requires human review. 🎟️Get your tickets for the LIVE podcast Follow Sarah: The SEO Mindset podcastFollow Sarah on LinkedInResources: https://www.wearetenet.com/blog/llm-usage-statisticshttps://masterofcode.com/blog/chatgpt-statisticshttps://www.elon.edu/u/news/2025/03/12/survey-52-of-u-s-adults-now-use-ai-large-language-models-like-chatgpt/https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-pulse-ai-mode-hits-75m-users-gemini-3-flash-launches/563725/https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/23/googles-ai-overviews-have-2b-monthly-users-ai-mode-100m-in-the-us-and-india/https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q4-2025/Time stamps 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:33 Weather Banter and Seasons 03:36 Why This AI Episode 04:35 Brighton Live Show Details 08:03 AI Usage Stats Reality Check 10:54 Adoption Curve and Attitudes 16:00 Risks, Data and Hallucinations 20:15 Disclosure and AI in Media 22:46 AI as a Tool, Not a Replacement 24:33 AI in Podcast Workflows 27:09 Uncanny Valley and What LLMs Are 28:29 Google Share Shifts 30:32 Live Podcast Announcement 33:00 Responsible AI Mindset 37:46 AI for Transcripts 42:28 Repurposing and Clips 47:30 AI for Clearer Writing 53:16 Key Takeaways Wrap 55:28 Event Details Goodbye 56:56 Final Outro Links

    58 min

  6. 2 MAR

    Future-Proofing E-Commerce for AI Search (Product Feeds, Schema, UGC & Agentic Commerce) | Dena Warren

    Jack Chambers Ward hosts Search with Candour with guest Dena Warren, SEO Lead at Techquity, to discuss how e-commerce brands can prepare for AI search and LLMs. They cover how the importance of consistent product data across on-site content, feeds, and maximising structured data (product, FAQ, reviews). Dena highlights using user-generated content, avoiding duplicate manufacturer copy, and ensuring key content is visible in HTML rather than hidden behind JavaScript interactions, feed optimisation using OpenAI’s product feed spec, and, of course, scepticism about LLMs.txt. Follow Dena: Techquity: https://www.techquity.co.uk/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dena-warren-b44106139/Dena’s recommendations: Ahrefs unlinked mentions: https://ahrefs.com/content-explorerAlsoAsked: https://alsoasked.com/Kelewele recipe: https://www.africanbites.com/kelewele-or-alocospicy-fried-plantains/Resources: https://developers.openai.com/commercehttps://productfeed.cloud/Time stamps 00:00 Introduction 01:39 Meet Dena Warren 02:39 Why Clients Ask Now 04:38 Avoiding AI Snake Oil 06:52 Product Data And Schema 10:18 Personalised Comparison Prompts 12:13 2026 Ecommerce Essentials 15:56 JavaScript And Crawlability 17:33 Cloudflare Bots Panic 20:54 Feed Specs For AI 24:10 Agentic Commerce Readiness 26:44 No Separate AI Subsites 30:59 Multimodal Images And Video 34:06 Shopping In Context 35:08 3D And Video Demos 36:05 Machine Readable Packaging 37:29 SEO Shiny Object Traps 38:02 llms.txt Scepticism 42:22 Agentic Commerce Reality 46:16 Agent Ready Checkout 49:43 Small Brands Can Win 53:52 Recommendations 58:27 Episode Wrap up

    1hr 1min

  7. 23 FEB

    Creating the perfect content campaign for International Women's Day

    Jack Chambers-Ward hosts Search With Candour with guest Faezeh Shafiee, a freelance international SEO content specialist, to discuss how to build an interview-based content campaign with the assistance of AI. During this campaign, Faezeh used expert interviews to create a multi-channel content campaign, turning an initial plan into interviews with three women leaders in sustainability. Faezeh explains the end-to-end process from planning, interviewing in both English and Spanish, recording and transcribing, to translating/localising, article structure, keyword research and repurposing into social, email, and other channels. 00:00 Welcome to Search With Candour 01:01 Subscribe & listener call-to-action before the chat 02:04 Meet Faezeh Shafiee 04:09 Why this campaign now: International Women’s Day + interview-based content 05:17 From idea to execution: turning one interview into three 11:00 Using AI as an assistant 15:03 Keeping authentic voices and avoiding hallucinations 19:52 Results & business impact 24:06 Are interviews more valuable in the AI era?  27:21 The deeper why: women’s rights, personal context, and amplifying global voices 32:44 Why individual action and content matter 34:33 Storytelling as a content superpower 38:54 Using AI for transcription, translation & editorial surprises 44:10 What Faezeh learned from the campaign 46:56 How to use AI responsibly 48:45 Actionable Tip: Stop doomscrolling 51:43 Tool Recommendation: Conduit for internet access solidarity 53:39 What Faezeh’s enjoying: Watercolour painting and Bob Ross 56:45 Wrap-Up and next episodes

    1 hr

  8. 16 FEB

    7 Biggest SEO News Stories So Far in 2026 (Google UCP, Business Agent, Personal Intelligence)

    Jack Chambers-Ward hosts a solo episode of Search With Candour recapping seven major SEO and digital marketing news stories from the first six weeks of 2026, previously covered in the Core Updates newsletter. He highlights Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for agentic commerce and checkout capabilities, Google’s Business Agent for brand-voice shopper conversations, and Google’s Personal Intelligence initiative that personalises experiences by connecting Gemini to apps like Gmail, YouTube, Photos, and Search. He also covers Gemini-powered AI Insights in Google Trends, Chrome’s agentic “auto browse” features that can complete multi-step tasks, a SparkToro study showing AI/LLM recommendations are highly inconsistent, and the February 2026 Google Discover core update aimed at reducing sensational clickbait, improving local relevance, and addressing self-promotional “self-ranking” listicles. Jack notes plans for ongoing monthly news recap episodes and points viewers to links in the show notes for all sources. Links to resources/references: https://developers.googleblog.com/under-the-hood-universal-commerce-protocol-ucp/https://support.google.com/brandprofile/answer/16410382https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-app/personal-intelligence/https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/google-trends-explore-with-ai/https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/chrome/gemini-3-auto-browse/https://sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-ais-are-highly-inconsistent-when-recommending-brands-or-products-marketers-should-take-care-when-tracking-ai-visibility/https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/02/discover-core-update00:00 Introduction 02:34 Candour Website Builds: Why SEO Must Be Baked In From Day One 04:17 Story #1: Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for Agentic Commerce 08:52 Story #2: Google Business Agent - Branded AI Chat for Retailers 11:50 Story #3: “Personal Intelligence” and the Start of Fully Personalised Search 15:09 Story #4: Gemini-Powered Google Trends Insights 17:02 Story #5: Chrome “Auto Browse” & Gemini in the Browser 22:54 Story #6: SparkToro Study: Why AI Brand Recommendations Are Inconsistent 31:51 Story #7: February 2026 Google Discover Core Update 34:35 Wrap-Up and upcoming episode

    36 min
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About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Candour
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    355
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Candour
  • Show Website
    Search with Candour

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