Spoilers and Plot Twists: AI, Changing Search and The Human Touch

The presentation in which I spoiled several films for people and covered all the stuff that's been going down in SEO and digital marketing in the last couple of years.

The AI revolution and whether it's sustainable in the long term - never mind that useful at the moment.

The enshittification of Google and why the fact Google search might feel crapper (spoiler - it is).

AI overviews and whether they're here to stay.

How we search differently now and how my daughter doesn't even say she's going to "Google" something.

Transcript

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10. digital marketing? Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
11. I wanna talk about films… Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
17. <ah shit - i fucked up> Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
34. So let’s look at where we are in 2024. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
35. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
36. Google’s shit, right? Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
37. AI appears to be a threat. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
38. And shitty-no-vision-haven’t-got-a- clue-about-our-industry people are making fuckin’ crazy decisions. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
40. Part 1: AI
43. The content-stealing hype behemoth Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
46. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
47. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
49. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
50. Google AI Overviews Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
53. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
55. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
56. Part 2: Google Enshittification
57. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
58. You will have seen things similar to these… Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
60. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
61. On purpose?
63. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
64. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
65. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
66. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
68. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
72. Part 3: Google “Leaks”
73. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
74. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
76. These are not ranking factors. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
77. “The ingredients not the recipe” Mike King Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
80. Clicks might matter. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
81. Chrome data may be used. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
82. Anchor text is important. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
83. Anchor text is important
84. User signals matter. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
85. Small personal sites are flagged. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
89. Google told us all along… Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
90. …Sort of. Google told us all along… Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
91. Which unfortunately is not what some of us want to hear… …and rightly so. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
92. Part 4: Humans
94. The messy middle. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
95. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
96. We search differently now. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
97. And with the stuff I’ve been talkin’ about it’s gonna get more splintered. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
98. What can we do? Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
99. A couple of things. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
100. Scenario planning over strategic planning. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
101. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne Traditional Strategic Planning Scenario-based Planning
102. Critical thinking. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
103. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
104. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
107. Look backwards and forwards. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
109. And above all else. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
110. Embrace your creativity. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
111. Stand out from the sea of sameness. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
113. “You’ve got to take the observer from the ordinary, to the extraordinary, to the astounding” Ricky Jay, Magician Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
114. “To stand out from the crowd, you've got to flip the ordinary on its head. Creativity isn't just about thinking outside the box—it's about defying gravity” John Backflip, Inventor of the backflip Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
117. Your presents… Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
122. <blank slide> Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
123. <blank slide> It’s all going to be okay. Things change. Sometimes quickly. You just gotta be as best prepared as you can. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
124. <another blank slide> Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
125. <another blank slide> Nothing’s dead. SEO is not dead it's just gonna be different. Marketing isn't dead it's just gonna be different. Wayne Barker | SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant @wayneb77 barkerwayne
131. Resources • https://speakerdeck.com/wayneb77/chess-the-wu-tang-clan-and-looking-at-the-bigger-picture • https://speakerdeck.com/wayneb77/game-over-quality-over-quantity • https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/14158-spoiler-alert-our-brains-love-plot-twists/ • https://www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a4688/the-pledge-the-turn-the-prestige/ • https://ipullrank.com/google-algo-leak • https://www.wheresyoured.at/to-serve-altman/ • https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/20/google-is-the-worlds-biggest-search-engine-broken • https://doctorow.medium.com/the-specific-process-by-which-google-enshittified-its-search-1ffd3b02d205 • https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766 • https://sparktoro.com/blog/an-anonymous-source-shared-thousands-of-leaked-google-search-api-documents-with-me-everyone-in-seo-should-see-them/ • https://nobl.io/changemaker/planning-in-uncertain-times/ • https://www.wheresyoured.at/tss/ • https://www.wheresyoured.at/rotcombubble/ • https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/ • https://www.blindfiveyearold.com/what-pandu-nayak-taught-me-about-seo • https://www.blindfiveyearold.com/its-goog-enough • https://searchengineland.com/federal-judge-rules-google-violated-antitrust-law-444756 • https://searchengineland.com/google-declared-a-monopoly-industry-reactions-and-implications-445014 • https://www.iloveseo.net/secrets-google-hides-in-plain-sight-and-how-to-use-them-to-assess-our-seo-strategy/ • https://www.iloveseo.net/oh-my-mum-or-how-to-think-seo-in-the-era-of-algorithms-based-on-ai/ • https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/consumer-insights/consumer-journey/navigating-purchase-behavior-and-decision-making/