Is AI changing local search as dramatically as everyone claims — or are the fundamentals still what matter most?

In this episode of Shift Happens, DAC’s SVP of Client Strategy, Nasser Sahlool, sits down with Kyle Harris, Director of Local Optimization, to break down how AI is reshaping local discovery — and what’s actually driving results for brick-and-mortar brands.

Is AI actually making your media more efficient — or just driving more empty traffic? 

In this episode of Shift Happens, DAC’s SVP of Client Strategy, Nasser Sahlool, joins Jenna Watson, SVP of Media, to unpack what AI Max really delivers, where it falls short, and how to balance automation with human strategy. They also explore the emerging keyword less future of SEO — and why AI-driven search requires a complete rethink of how brands measure visibility and discoverability. 

Is your content getting harder to find — even as you create more of it? 

In this episode of Shift Happens, DAC’s SVP of Client Strategy, Nasser Sahlool, joins Orli Milstein, Director of Content Strategy, to explore how AI is reshaping discovery and why traditional SEO tactics no longer cut it. They unpack what it means to structure content for both humans and machines — and how brands can build clarity, authority, and true findability in an AI-driven search world. 

Are your dashboards full of data that looks great but doesn’t actually drive business? 

In this episode of Shift Happens, DAC’s SVP of Client Strategy, Nasser Sahlool, sits down with Dan Temby, SVP of Technology & Analytics, to unpack why marketers chase vanity metrics, and what to measure instead. 

0:00: Intro

0:50: How do we know which metrics on our dashboard drive sales, and aren’t just vanity metrics?

3:25: If clicks don’t equal customers, what should marketers measure instead?

6:18: How do we help clients move from dashboards to decisions?

8:50: How is the analytics space evolving, and what should marketers prepare for?

10:42: How did you apply semantic descriptions with AI to build DAC’s operating system IRIS?

12:55: AI amplifies strategy, but only if the data is speaking the same language

13:40: Vanity metrics may make dashboards look busy, but value metrics prove impact

Welcome to Shift Happens: The art, science, (and chaos) of modern marketing .  

Each episode unpacks the forces reshaping marketing—from AI and data to privacy, creative, and performance—and asks experts how they transform disruption into an advantage. 

Listen to all our episodes here: https://www.dacgroup.com/insights/podcasts/

Oh man, the future! Dan, Jenna, and Nasser are back to make sense of a year in which everything changed in digital... again. Grab yourself a frothy coffee and join our future-proofed trio as they dissect 2023, speculate what 2024 may have in store, and make questionable attempts at Australian and Welsh accents.

• The year in review: Excitement, frustration, jamón
• AI, AI, Oh! New possibilities in 2024
• What lies ahead for paid search practitioners?
• Goodnight, sweet AI startups
• GPTs: Bad name, revolutionary function

LINKS: DAC: "Predictions 2024" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

In the first part of DAC's AI Sunrise Series, the gang returns to discuss the topic on everyone's lips. Join Jenna, Dan, and Nasser as they explain what the dawn of AI means for digital marketers, businesses of all shapes and sizes, and the world in general. Along the way, they generate lifelike content about:

• The solipsistic world of AI-powered monocles
• Surprise! AI tools are already ubiquitous
• Adding value as actual human beings
• An imminent sea change in user behavior
• What does "efficiency" really mean, anyway?

LINKS: DAC: "What the AI paradox means for marketers" | DAC: "ChatGPT: Threats, opportunities… and a new challenger to Google?" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

And we're back! Our triumphant trio returns to reveal all about marketing's hottest topic: generative artificial intelligence. Find how "the most profound technological development since the internet itself" is set to reinvent, well, pretty much everything. Along the way, Dan, Nasser, and Jenna delve into topics definitely not suggested by ChatGPT, including:

• Neural networks and fighty robots: How does generative AI actually work?
• Player 2 has entered the game... Google Bard!
• The inevitable rise of "prompt engineering"

LINKS: DAC: "Microsoft vs. Google: The battle for AI supremacy is on" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

Some things never change, but SEO is not one of those things. Join Jenna, Nasser, and Dan as they check in on the sweeping evolution of organic search, explore Google's role therein, and ponder the future of one of digital's most traditional disciplines. Along the way, they click through into topics including:

• Counting in cubits and backyard pyramids
• Visualization, zero clickification, monetization
• Higher ranking =/= more impressions
• Create compelling content... but how?
• SEO has never been more SEO

LINKS: DAC: "4 recent SERP changes impacting organic ecommerce performance" | DAC: "Hey, BERT! Meet the Google AI set to change search forever" | DAC: "One year on, has BERT really changed search forever?" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

We're witnessing the most tumultuous era in the history of talent acquisition and retention in the marketing industry, and it's showing no sign of abating. Amid the churn, Jenna, Nasser, and Dan recruited Talentfoot founder and CEO Camille Fetter to reveal all about the Great Resignation, covering talking points including:

• Resistance to hybrid models and the reinvention of collaboration
• Is agency-to-client talent migration a thing of the past?
• Overpromoted and underperforming: The consequences of hiring frenzies
• The inevitable rise of pay transparency

LINKS: DAC | Talentfoot | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org