Rethinking SEO in the age of AI | Eli Schwartz (SEO advisor, author)

Listen to this episode from Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career on Spotify. Eli Schwartz is a leading SEO consultant and the author of Product-Led SEO. He has worked with industry giants like Zapier, Tinder, Coinbase, Quora, LinkedIn, and WordPress to build and execute global SEO strategies that significantly enhanced their organic visibility at scale. In our conversation, Eli shares: • How AI and LLMs are reshaping the SEO landscape • Why you should be focused on mid-funnel SEO strategies • How to determine if SEO is the right approach for your business • Why SEO should be treated as a product rather than just a marketing tactic • SEO myths • The future of search in light of recent legal challenges faced by Google • Much more — Brought to you by: • ⁠Pendo⁠—The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application • ⁠Brave Search⁠—A smarter way to search • ⁠OneSchema⁠—Import CSV data 10x faster — Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/rethinking-seo-in-the-age-of-ai-eli-schwartz — Where to find Eli Schwartz: • X: https://x.com/5le • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwartze/ • Website: https://www.elischwartz.co/ • Newsletter: https://www.productledseo.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Eli’s background (02:10) The impact of AI on SEO strategies (11:34) Understanding search intent (15:30) Real-world impact and structured vs. unstructured data (20:19) Top-of-funnel vs mid-funnel SEO strategies (22:57) Case studies (31:29) Steps for getting started with SEO (35:20) Examples of when not to focus on SEO (39:17) Evaluating SEO investment (44:00) Understanding the tradeoffs in marketing channels (46:23) SEO conversion metrics and expectations (52:09) Understanding the time horizon of SEO (59:37) The role of AI in content creation (01:05:26) AI overviews  (01:07:40) Brand building and SEO (01:09:51) Programmatic vs. editorial SEO strategies (01:16:06) Insights from the Google antitrust verdict (01:20:36) Google’s dominance in search (01:23:52) The future of SEO and user choice (01:26:28) SEO myths debunked (01:36:58) Forecasting SEO success (01:44:18) The need for SEO expertise (01:46:26) Lightning round and closing thoughts — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected]. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.