Search with Candour

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. 1H AGO

    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

  2. MAR 2

    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

    1h 1m

  3. FEB 23

    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

  4. FEB 16

    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

  5. FEB 9

    How businesses can optimise for AI search

    Join Jack Chambers-Ward as he sits down with Alex Dees, co-founder and CEO of Meridian, to discuss how to optimise your brand and sites for AI-driven search engines like ChatGPT, AI Mode, and Perplexity. Discover strategies and insights on increasing visibility in the age of AI, if “chunking” your content works, and the future of e-commerce and agentic commerce.Follow Alex: Website: https://trymeridian.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-dees 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 01:22 Guest Introduction: Alex Dees 01:47 The Rise of AI in Search 02:18 Optimising for AI Search 03:58 The Future of SEO and AI 11:55 Measuring Success in AI Search 16:38 Strategies for Effective AI Marketing 17:45 Content Structuring and Chunking 27:20 Combining Data for Better Insights 30:15 AI in E-commerce 31:31 The Future of E-commerce and AI 32:17 The Role of Structured Data in AI 33:41 Agentic Commerce: Trends and Insights 35:23 Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) 36:04 Challenges and Opportunities in Agentic Commerce 44:23 The Impact of AI on Small vs. Big Businesses 46:53 The Growing Importance of Video Content 49:17 Actionable Recommendations for AI Search 52:59 Final Thoughts and Recommendations

    59 min

  6. FEB 2

    SEO Trends & Insights from the Web Almanac 2025

    In this episode of Search With Candour, host Jack Chambers-Ward is joined by SEO experts Chris Green and Amaka Chukwuma to discuss the SEO chapter of the Web Almanac 2025. Together, they delve into the process behind writing the chapter, trends in SEO, impacts of AI and LLM crawlers, structured data adoption, and the importance of resisting hype in the SEO industry. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction 00:27 Discussing the Web Almanac 2025 01:38 Welcoming the Guests 03:15 SEO Chapter Insights 04:09 Data Analysis and Process 11:37 SEO Trends and Surprises 20:11 Robots.txt and Web Standards 30:11 Bing Bot and AI Crawlers 35:50 Legacy SEO Practices and Their Impact 38:16 The Rise of AI Crawlers 39:58 Adoption and Implementation of LLMs 48:59 Structured Data and Schema Markup 56:36 The Future of SEO and the Web 01:03:12 Closing Thoughts and Upcoming Topics 📖 The SEO Chapter of the web almanac 2025: https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2025/seo Follow Amaka: 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaka-chukwuma-jubilee/ Follow Chris: 🔗 Website: https://www.torquepartnership.com/ 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgreenseo/ 🔗 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/chris-green.net

    1h 5m
  7. Top SEO Conferences of 2025 & What to Look Forward to in 2026 | Search With Candour

    JAN 26

    Top SEO Conferences of 2025 & What to Look Forward to in 2026 | Search With Candour

    Join Jack Chambers-Ward and Mark Williams-Cook for a special episode of Search With Candour, where they recap the top SEO conferences of 2025 and share their most anticipated events for 2026. From Brighton SEO to the SEO Brein Meetup, they discuss the highlights, unique features, and what makes each conference a must-attend. Plus, get an exclusive sneak peek into the upcoming SearchNorwich XL… Don't miss out on insights, networking tips, and the banter you’ve come to expect from Search with Candour! Best SEO conferences of 2025: https://brightonseo.com/https://croatiaseosummit.com/https://hub.seofomo.co/events/https://tech-seo-summit.com/https://searchnstuff.co.uk/search-n-stuff-antalya-conference-2026/ SEO conferences to look forward to in 2026: https://www.womenintechseo.com/conference/london/https://www.seobrein.nl/meetuphttps://hive-mcr.co.uk/https://searchnstuff.co.uk/search-n-stuff-london-conference-2026/Coming soon... https://searchnorwich.org/ 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:20 Conference Highlights and Reflections 01:57 The Importance of Networking 04:30 Top Conferences of 2025 04:48 Brighton SEO 08:50 Zagreb SEO Summit 15:13 SEO FOMO Meetups 19:46 Tech SEO Summit 23:55 Search and Stuff Antalya 26:46 The Importance of Preparation for Conferences 27:23 Navigating Language Barriers at International Conferences 28:07 The Value of Speaker-Audience Interaction 29:35 Upcoming Conferences in 2026 30:18 WTSFest London 33:50 SEO Brien Meetups 35:39 Hive MCR 39:33 Search and Stuff London 41:43 SearchNorwich XL 49:56 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

    51 min
  8. Video content is essential for success in 2026

    JAN 19

    Video content is essential for success in 2026

    Jack Chambers-Ward is joined by Georgie Kemp, the SEO lead at Veed. Together, they delve into the limitless potential of video as a channel for marketers, discussing how video content can be repurposed and its SEO advantages. Georgie emphasises the importance of authenticity and the human element in creating engaging video content. Jack and Georgie also explore the evolution of search, integrating video into SEO strategies, and leveraging AI while maintaining a human touch. Follow Georgie: Website: https://www.veed.ioLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgie-kemp/ Veed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/veedstudioVeed on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veedstudio/ Resources https://sell.g2.com/resources/webinars/capturing-demand-in-the-llm-ecosystemhttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7388499289389572097/https://sparktoro.com/blog/its-still-seo-search-everywhere-optimization/ Veed guides for video marketing: https://www.veed.io/learn/video-marketing-guide https://www.veed.io/learn/ai-tools-for-video-editinghttps://www.veed.io/learn/ai-video-production Georgie’s recommendations https://www.granola.ai/https://misotasty.com/recipes/miso-brown-butter-banana-bread-recipe Time stamps 00:00 The Limitless Potential of Video Marketing 01:22 Introduction 03:26 Sponsor Message 05:13 Interview with Georgie Kemp 06:50 The Evolution of Search and Video Content 20:47 Community Engagement and Authenticity in SEO 34:47 Monitoring Brand Sentiment 35:12 The Party Analogy 35:49 Honesty in Product Comparisons 36:46 Community-Centric Content Strategy 37:55 Success in Video Generation and Editing 38:55 Comparison-Based Content 42:17 Brand Management and Visibility 48:17 AI's Role in Content Creation 55:21 Recommendations and Final Thoughts

    1h 5m
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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
    351
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Candour
  • Show Website
    Search with Candour

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