Optimizing for visibility in generative AI platforms seems easy enough. Enter a sitemap URL into Bing Webmaster Tools and Search Console, and, voilà, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, and even ChatGPT access and reference the content.

But Clint Butler reminds us it's not that simple. He says the problem is knowing which platform to optimize, as the tactics differ. And rarely do those platforms mention the source, much less link to it. Google, incredibly, uses one source to power AI Overviews but links to others in the citations.

Clint is a decorated, 20-year military veteran who now runs Digtalteer, a prominent search-engine-optimization agency. I spoke with him last month on the state of AI search, ecommerce optimization tactics, schema markup, and more.

Ted Kubaitis once managed organic search for a retailer with 25,000 SKUs and 500 categories. He feared competing against Amazon for rankings until he realized most of its product pages had zero backlinks. Then an epiphany hit.

"All it took was 25 backlinks," he told me.

Ted is now the founder of SEO Tool Lab, a prominent agency and software provider, and the host of "SEO Fight Club," a YouTube show.

President Trump’s tariffs have merchants scrambling to gauge the impact on imports, exports, and overall cost. There’s no better authority to assess that impact than Alex Yancher. He’s the CEO and co-founder of Passport, a global provider of cross-border logistics, localization, and support for ecommerce sellers.

We occasionally hear from ecommerce pros seeking employment. Many this year report extended searches with little to no acknowledgment from would-be employers after submitting a resume.

To inquire, we once again turn to Harry Joiner. He's a 20-year ecommerce recruiter with a seasoned perspective for job seekers and the companies who hire them.

Harry Joiner launched his ecommerce recruiting firm in 2005. He has experienced booms, busts, and nonstop changes. I contact him periodically for a recap on ecommerce executive employment in the U.S.

Our conversation last week touched on post-Covid impacts, the demand for remote work, the dominance of LinkedIn, and more. The entire audio of our discussion is embedded below. The transcript is edited for clarity and length.

I last spoke with Mark Daoust in late 2022. His firm, Quiet Light, a digital business brokerage, had just witnessed a post-pandemic hangover from cheap money and booming ecommerce. A normal acquisition market had returned.

We connected again last week. I asked him for an update on the state of buying and selling ecommerce companies.

No one is more qualified for that update than Daoust. His firm has grown from its founding in 2007 to 13 full-time advisors — all former entrepreneurs — who, with Daoust, have collectively experienced frenzied markets and the opposite.

Barry Schwartz was just 23 when he launched Search Engine Roundtable in 2003. Google had started five years earlier, and optimizing web pages for organic rankings was primitive, at least by today's standards.

Fast forward to 2022, and Search Engine Roundtable is a pillar of industry news and how-to. And so is Schwartz. He's a pioneering tech publisher, journalist, and search engine authority.

What is the current state of ecommerce acquisitions? Curious, I turned to Mark Daoust. He's a pioneer in ecommerce M&A, having launched Quite Light, a brokerage, in 2007.