Performance SEO Unpacked

On this solo episode of Performance SEO Unpacked, host Ruchi Pardal takes on seven of the toughest SEO questions she hears every week from CMOs, VPs, and growth leaders across SaaS, e-commerce, and multi-location businesses.

With no fluff and all tactics, Ruchi lays out why flat traffic with falling conversions signals an intent mismatch, what really determines visibility in AI overviews, and how multi-location SEO can quickly turn chaotic without a hub-and-spoke approach. She makes a strong case for bringing SEO into product roadmap conversations early, reframing reporting around revenue impact, and using AI as a multiplier — not a miracle.

The thread running through all seven answers: moving from keywords to concepts and making your expertise unavoidable in both search engines and AI systems.

• Why flat traffic plus falling conversions is a red flag, and how to fix intent-page mismatches with CRO elements and micro conversions
• How authority signals and third-party mentions determine visibility in AI overviews, not just keyword counts
• The hub-and-spoke model for multi-location SEO, dynamic templates, and consistent NAP management
• Where AI content adds value — long-tail terms, refreshing outdated articles, and structured templates with human review
• Why SEO should sit in product roadmap meetings before launch, with landing pages and schema ready in advance
• How leadership wants to see SEO reporting framed around pipeline, revenue, and the V.O.L.T. model (Visibility, Outcomes, Leads, Transactions)
• The shift from keywords to entities — building topical clusters, schema markup, and authoritative brand mentions

• ResultFirst
• Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn

If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let's keep the conversation going—connect with us on LinkedIn and join the community of enterprise SEO enthusiasts.

Performance SEO Unpacked with Ruchi Pardal explores a simple yet powerful framework for connecting search visibility with real business growth. In this solo episode, Ruchi introduces VOLT — Visibility, Outcomes, Leads, Transactions — a model designed to close the gap between “we are ranking” and “we are growing revenue.”

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She explains why most SEO teams stall at visibility, overlooking outcomes, leads, and transactions, and shows how to connect content performance with conversions. From multi-channel visibility across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Reddit, and YouTube to tracking ripple effects and stitching data into CRM systems, Ruchi demonstrates how VOLT transforms SEO into a true growth engine.

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Listeners will learn how to move beyond traffic metrics, defend SEO budgets, and measure influence even when traditional clicks decline.

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📌 What We Cover

• Why most SEO teams stop at visibility and lose the thread on business outcomes
• The meaning of VOLT: Visibility, Outcomes, Leads, Transactions
• Multi-channel search visibility across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Reddit, YouTube, and TikTok
• Tracking the ripple effect of outcomes beyond the first click
• Connecting SEO-influenced leads to CRM data and attribution
• Revenue tagging: aligning keyword clusters with pipeline data
• Example of using VOLT to track AI mentions and defend SEO budgets
• How VOLT reframes SEO from a cost center to a growth engine

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🔗 Resources Mentioned

• VOLT downloadable worksheet (DM “VOLT” to Ruchi on LinkedIn)
• ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies
• Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO

Enterprise SEO can get messy fast — five business units, hundreds of stakeholders, and AI reshaping what shows up in search. On Performance SEO Unpacked, host Ruchi Pardal sits down with Joe Bare to unpack what it really takes to build authority when visibility doesn’t always mean clicks.

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Joe, who has led strategy across industries from travel to healthcare to SaaS, now works in enterprise risk intelligence — and is redefining how websites function in a zero-click, AI-driven search environment. From shifting SEO from a performance channel to a branding play, to navigating the politics and precision of keyword governance, Joe shares concrete strategies for making content discoverable by both search engines and LLMs.

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Expect a candid discussion on deep content creation, measuring LLM visibility, embracing conversational search, and breaking the myth that SEO is something you “add” at the end.

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Joe Bare is a digital marketing and SEO leader with experience spanning travel, healthcare, SaaS, financial services, and enterprise risk intelligence. Currently with LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Joe’s insights are his own and draw on years of building authority signals, managing complex content strategies, and navigating the unique challenges of enterprise SEO.

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• How AI overviews and chat applications are changing authority signals and SEO measurement
• Shifting from lead-generation websites to branding engines in a zero-click search world
• Creating deep, broad topic coverage to earn citations from LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity
• Moving from gated content to open access for better LLM pickup and recognition
• Measuring success through LLM visibility, log file analysis, and content referenced by AI
• Avoiding keyword cannibalization across multiple business units with overlapping solutions
• Leveraging conversational search intent to target long-tail, context-rich queries
• Building authority through expert-driven content, schema markup, and trusted third-party sources
• Why SEO must be embedded from the start, not “added” after content is created

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• ResultFirst – Visit for more SEO tips and strategies.
• Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO
• Connect with Joe Bare on LinkedIn

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If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let's keep the conversation going—connect with us on LinkedIn and join the community of enterprise SEO enthusiasts.

In this episode of Performance SEO Unpacked, host Ruchi Pardal sits down with Derek Woo, Director of Search Engine Optimization and App Store Optimization at Albertsons Companies. Derek’s deep SEO experience dates back to the early days of the internet, even before the term SEO was coined, giving him a unique perspective on the evolution of search.

Together, they explore how AI and large language models (LLMs) are reshaping SEO strategies, visibility, and brand influence—especially in retail. Derek shares how his team anticipates user intent by mapping out “the next question” a searcher might ask, turning that insight into richer, more suggestive content that surfaces in AI-generated answers. From leveraging natural search optimization to de-emphasizing backlinks and embracing content recency and quality, Derek offers actionable insights for brands navigating this new AI-first search landscape.

Listeners will also learn about Derek’s innovative use of AI-powered virtual focus groups to quickly gain consumer insights, and why traditional SEO practices aren’t dead—they’re evolving in exciting ways.

Derek Woo is the Director of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and App Store Optimization (ASO) at Albertsons Companies. With roots in the early internet era, Derek has tracked and adapted to the evolution of search engines beyond Google, including the impact of AI-driven search. He leads a large cross-functional team focused on testing, ideating, and adapting SEO strategies in an AI-first world.

• Derek’s early SEO experiences pre-dating Google and official SEO terminology
• Weekly AI-focused workshops growing from a small SEO team to 227 participants across Albertsons
• The importance of anticipating “the next question” in content strategy to better serve AI-generated search results
• How brand affinity can be shaped by appearing in AI answers for high-volume, non-branded queries (e.g., bleach alternatives)
• Differences in content visibility depending on intent: informational queries vs transactional queries
• Why syndicated content is being ignored by AI search, and how unique, detailed content can set brands apart
• The ongoing relevance of FAQ sections as AI training data sources
• The shift from clicks to impressions and mentions as valuable metrics in an AI-driven search ecosystem
• Selling visibility and influence through collaborative content networks to impact AI answers
• How Derek’s team uses AI virtual focus groups to simulate customer personas and gather fast, sentiment-based insights
• Creating AI SEO consultant personas to challenge and refine internal SEO strategies
• Derek’s unconventional move to ignore backlinks and focus on quality, recent content that ranks well even without links
• The enduring core of SEO: providing better, more relevant answers for end users in a constantly evolving search landscape

• Albertsons Companies
• Derek Woo on LinkedIn
• ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies. (

What if your keyword research could shape product development, uncover revenue potential, and spotlight entire user segments your product team never considered?

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On Performance SEO Unpacked, host Ruchi Pardal is joined by Jennifer Long, Lead SEO Manager at SolarWinds, who brings a radically strategic lens to keyword research. She calls it “off-label SEO”—a method that extends SEO far beyond website optimization into influencing product, audience, and regional strategies.

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Together, they explore how low-volume keywords can still be meaningful, what happens when SEO insights reach the C-suite, and why understanding feature gaps might be your biggest growth lever. Plus, Jennifer shares how she’s aligning SEO with AI-powered search and adapting to a future driven by prompts, not just keywords.

Jennifer Long is the Lead SEO Manager at SolarWinds. She brings a unique product-led approach to SEO—focusing on use cases, feature gaps, and regional patterns to inform both content and development priorities. She refers to her method as "off-label SEO," using search behavior to uncover business opportunities and guide strategy. Previously, she worked with brands like Zoom.

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• What “off-label SEO” means and how Jennifer Long applies it beyond traditional site optimization
• Using SEO data to identify product feature gaps, regional opportunities, and overlooked user segments
• How keyword research led to C-suite buy-in for an untapped podcasting audience
• Why low search volume doesn’t always mean low opportunity
• The collaborative process of aligning keyword strategy with business goals and implementation effort
• How traditional SEO principles still apply in the world of LLMs and AI search
• Tools that support international SEO and competitor gap analysis, including Ahrefs and BrightEdge
• Real examples of SEO influencing content strategy and product capabilities in SaaS

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• Ahrefs – Used for keyword research and international SEO translation
• BrightEdge – Supports multi-region keyword views and strategy alignment

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Resources:

ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies.

Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO.

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If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let's keep the conversation going—connect with us on LinkedIn and join the community of enterprise SEO enthusiasts.

Nothing stinks quite like realizing your brand isn’t showing up in Google’s AI Overview, ChatGPT answers, or Perplexity snippets while competitors bask in the glory. In this solo session of Performance SEO Unpacked, host Ruchi Pardal strips away the mystery and lays out why AI engines ignore some brands and how to win back visibility. Drawing on trusted-source signals, knowledge graphs, third-party mentions, schema markup, and crawl health, she shows that recovery is less about quick tricks and more about rebuilding trust—typically a 60- to 80-day journey. Listen in for crisp action items that turn “missing” into “recommended.”

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• Why weak entity recognition leaves brands outside the AI conversation
• The power of third-party mentions on sites like Wikipedia, G2, and high-quality media—far beyond classic backlinking
• How thin or fragmented content, duplicate URLs, and poor formatting crumble under AI summarization
• Fixing a broken or missing schema setup so engines read product pages, blog posts, and team bios correctly
• Auditing crawl budget, server speed, canonical signals, and rendering to keep doors wide open for bots
• Writing niche-specific prompts to test whether AI tools already recommend (or ignore) your brand
• Using IndexNow and Bing’s network to speed fresh updates into the AI ecosystem
• Setting realistic expectations: rebuilding system-level trust takes persistence, not panic

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• Google AI Overview
• ChatGPT
• Perplexity
• Wikipedia
• G2
• IndexNow
• Bing

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• ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies. (https://www.resultfirst.com)
• Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO

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If you enjoyed today’s episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let’s keep the conversation going—connect with us on LinkedIn and join the community of enterprise SEO enthusiasts.

On this episode of Performance SEO Unpacked, host Ruchi Pardal sits down with Nick Pustay, Head of SEO at Scholastic, to tackle one of the most pressing topics in modern search: schema markup and entity optimization in the age of AI Overviews.

With schema evolving from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have,” Nick offers a real-world look at what it takes to roll out structured data across 16 business units at scale. From navigating legacy CMS systems to choosing between global and local implementations, Nick shares practical strategies and challenges from the enterprise SEO frontlines.

This conversation gets tactical—covering organization schema, product vs. book schema, Google’s recent deprecations, and the unseen benefits of strategic collaboration. Plus, Nick offers a “digital archaeology” mindset that every enterprise SEO should consider when facing technical blockers or shifting SERP dynamics.

Nick Pustay is Head of SEO at Scholastic, where he oversees SEO strategy and implementation across 16 different business units. His expertise spans schema markups, entity optimization, and large-scale technical SEO.

• Why schema markup is now a requirement, not an option, due to AI Overviews
• How structured data supports content discoverability and rich results
• The challenge of applying schema across 16 different business units
• The role of collaboration in enterprise SEO and stakeholder alignment
• Real-world example: Google dropping book schema in June 2025—and what it means
• Why product schema may be the better long-term choice over deprecated types
• The future of long-form content, prompt-based experiences, and schema’s role
• Technical challenges of legacy CMS platforms in implementing modern SEO needs
• Tips for customizing schema beyond Google’s rich result testing tools
• “Digital Indiana Jones” mindset for uncovering overlooked SEO opportunities

• Product-Led SEO by Eli Schwartz
• A Tangled Web (book referenced by Nick for understanding browser security)

Resources:

👉 ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies.

👉 Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO.

If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let's keep the conversation going—connect with us on LinkedIn and join the community of enterprise SEO enthusiasts.

Performance SEO Unpacked is back with a big conversation about the new frontier of SEO—where queries disappear, and AI anticipation takes the lead. Host Ruchi Pardal sits down with Krishna Madhavan, Principal Product Manager of the Web Data Platform at Microsoft AI, to decode what “search without queries” really means.

In this episode, Krishna breaks down how AI systems like Copilot are shifting from "search and find" to "understand and assist," challenging the foundation of traditional SEO. From IndexNow protocol to semantic clarity, citations over clicks, and the compression of the funnel, this is a roadmap for SEOs navigating AI-powered search. If you're still optimizing for blue links and keyword density, this episode is your wake-up call.

👤 Guest Bio

• Krishna Madhavan is Principal Product Manager for the Web Data Platform at Microsoft AI, where he works on search technologies like Copilot and IndexNow. With deep insight into AI agents and content discovery systems, Krishna shares what it takes to stay relevant in an anticipatory, query-less search landscape.

📌 What We Cover

• Why "search without queries" is disrupting everything SEO has historically relied on
• How Copilot anticipates needs before users even ask—shifting SEO from clicks to citations
• The importance of semantic structure, authority, and freshness over traditional relevance
• Why content clarity and knowledge density are the new SEO signals for AI systems
• How IndexNow helps site owners proactively control content discoverability and reduce crawl waste
• The shift from optimizing for position to optimizing for precision and trust
• What SEO teams must now consider: machine readability, structured data, and intent-aligned content
• Why memory and personalization make it harder to predict rankings—but easier to win in contextual moments
• The new content strategy: modular, multi-intent, and AI-friendly assets that serve across funnel stages
• Practical steps for SEOs to future-proof their visibility in Copilot and other AI search systems

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• IndexNow
• Microsoft Copilot
• Resources:
• ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies. resultfirst.com
• Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO.

If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let's keep the conversation going—connect with us on LinkedIn and join the community of enterprise SEO enthusiasts.

On Performance SEO Unpacked, host Ruchi Pardal is joined by Neha Khanna to explore how product thinking is transforming SEO at scale. Drawing from her experience at ZipRecruiter and Wayfair, Neha Khanna shares how moving away from technical checklists and toward user-centered problem-solving creates lasting growth.

Instead of chasing keywords, she focuses on systems that scale—measuring outcomes like conversion and engagement rather than impressions and rankings. Ruchi Pardal and Neha Khanna discuss AI not as a content factory, but as a storytelling co-pilot. They also break down how prioritization frameworks like RICE can bring clarity and confidence to enterprise SEO decisions, especially when getting stakeholder buy-in or forecasting results.

Whether you're facing stalled traffic, ineffective keyword strategies, or just looking to build SEO into product loops, this episode delivers tested strategies straight from the field.

Neha Khanna blends SEO and product management, with experience at organizations including Wayfair and ZipRecruiter. Known for shifting teams away from traditional SEO tactics and toward integrated, outcome-focused strategies, she prioritizes relevance, user intent, and business alignment.

Connect with Neha Khanna on LinkedIn.

• Why Neha Khanna stopped asking “what keywords should we rank for?”
• A real example of solving post-click friction instead of expanding long-tail content
• How SEO success changes when you integrate UX, data science, and engineering
• Why traffic metrics without conversion are just vanity numbers
• The AI-assisted content engine Neha Khanna helped build at Wayfair—and why human QA still matters
• How to design AI prompts that scale storytelling, not just content
• Using the RICE framework (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) to prioritize SEO work
• Why writing product-style briefs helps SEOs align cross-functional teams
• The power of thinking like a user instead of optimizing for search engines

• RICE Prioritization Framework (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort)
• ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies.
• Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO.

If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don't forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let's keep the conversation going—connect with

The world of SEO isn’t just evolving—it’s being rewritten. On this episode of Performance SEO Unpacked, Joseph Lewin steps in as guest host to interview Ruchi Pardal, founder of ResultFirst, about one of the most seismic shifts in digital marketing: Google’s move to AI Mode.

Forget ranking #1. That blue-link legacy is fading fast as Google transitions from search engine to response engine. Instead of offering choices, it now delivers AI-powered answers—instantly. Ruchi Pardal breaks down what this means for SEOs, content marketers, and brands who’ve relied on traditional traffic models.

What replaces top rankings? Citations. Brand mentions. Total visibility. Ruchi Pardal shares the three shifts SEOs must make to stay relevant, how to rethink attribution in a zero-click world, and what AI-readiness really means in 2025.

• Why Google is shifting from a search engine to a response engine
• How AI Mode changes SEO visibility, traffic, and user behavior
• The rise of zero-click answers and decline of the blue-link era
• What AI-driven content means for SEOs, content creators, and marketers
• The new SEO priority: being quoted, not just ranked
• Why brand visibility and third-party mentions now matter more than CTR
• Ruchi Pardal's 3-part strategy for AI Mode: Visibility Audit, Content Clarity, Authority Building
• How to think like a brand, not a publisher, in the new AI SEO landscape
• Rethinking attribution: measuring impressions, direct traffic, and AI citations

• ResultFirst
• Google AI Mode / AI Overview (referenced)
• ChatGPT, Perplexity (referenced AI tools)

Resources:

ResultFirst: Visit for more SEO tips and strategies

Connect with Ruchi Pardal on LinkedIn for a conversation about SEO

If you enjoyed today's episode and found valuable insights for your business, be sure to subscribe to Performance SEO Unpacked for more expert discussions. Don’t forget to leave a review and share this episode with your team or fellow marketers! Let's keep the conversation going—connect with us on LinkedIn and join the community of enterprise SEO enthusiasts.