Levi Clucas, Technical SEO Lead at Footprint Digital and three-time Brighton SEO speaker, joins Austin Willman to break down what good SEO actually looks like in 2025 and beyond.

Levi shares why the best SEOs lead with intuition over checklists, how she uses a simple spreadsheet to solve one of the most persistent problems in site migrations, and why the shift toward human-centered content is reshaping everything from local SEO to LLM citations.

She also opens up about the soft skills that have defined her decade-long career, including radical transparency with clients, building real relationships across teams, and why saying "I don't know" is one of the most powerful things an SEO can say.

If you're worried about where search is heading or what AI means for your career, this episode is a grounding, practical conversation to come back to.

Topics covered:

- Why good SEO starts with intuition, not a checklist

- How local SEO plays by different rules

- The Technical Site Map document Levi presented at Brighton SEO

- Why communication is the real reason migrations fail

- How EEAT and reputation signals have become central to visibility

- What LLMs are actually picking up on when they cite businesses

- Why team pages are now among the most visited pages on client sites

- How to embrace AI without letting it replace your thinking

Get Your Exclusive AIO Growth Plan - We’ll kick off with a Live AIO Audit to see how shoppers find you, followed by Competitor Research to steal their spotlight: https://lunacal.ai/team/dws/dws-meetings

In this episode, we discuss:

00:00 - 01:00 Introduction

01:00 - 03:00 Why Good SEO Is Not a Checklist

03:00 - 05:35 Intuition, Industry Knowledge, and Testing

05:35 - 08:30 Thinking Like Your Client's Customer

08:30 - 11:55 Using AI and Real People for Keyword Research

11:55 - 15:30 The Technical Site Map Explained

15:30 - 18:45 Brighton SEO Talk and Audience Response

18:45 - 21:05 Why Communication Breaks Down in Migrations

21:05 - 24:15 Transparency, Honesty, and Relationship Building

24:15 - 27:20 Confidence, Authority, and Pushing Back Constructively

27:20 - 31:05 How Trust Signals and EEAT Have Shifted

31:05 - 34:20 What LLMs Actually Pick Up On

34:20 - 37:00 Embracing AI Without Losing the Human Element

37:00 - 38:16 Where to Find Levi and Final Thoughts

 Connect with Levi Clucas

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/leviwilliamsclucas/

 https://www.footprintdigital.co.uk/

 FOLLOW US

Website: https://www.digitalwebsolutions.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digiwebsol

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dws_global

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-web-solutions./