Brad Wetherall, former head of Google My Business, reveals insider knowledge about how Google evaluates and ranks business profiles in the evolving search landscape. He shares crucial insights on trust factors, ranking signals, and how AI is reshaping local search strategies.

• Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) remains critical despite the focus on AI and LLMs
• The three most important ranking factors are business name, primary category, and reviews
• Consistent review frequency matters more than total volume for ongoing relevance
• Google has an internal "trust" algorithm that evaluates profile owners based on their editing history
• Fake reviews can result in a 90-day review collection ban, making manipulation not worth the risk
• Brand mentions are becoming more valuable than backlinks in the AI era
• The AI overview feature heavily utilizes GBP data, making profile accuracy increasingly important
• Photos should be geo-tagged and added regularly rather than all at once

---

Guest Contact Information: 

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradwetherall

—

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The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Check out our backlog at Best SEO Podcast on YouTube and find our full-length video interviews @InternetMarketingSecrets on YouTube

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Hosts: Matt Bertram 

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Conversion expert Trevor Levine reveals essential strategies for maximizing results in an era where website traffic has dropped by an average of 58.5% due to AI overviews in search. As the selection process now happens off-page, businesses must be laser-focused on converting the visitors who do reach their sites.

• Starting with pain points and amplifying the emotional impact of customer problems
• Using video sales letters for higher-ticket items to prevent price-shopping before value is established
• Creating clear differentiation between your solution and competitors' offerings
• Developing testimonials that showcase before-and-after transformation stories
• Building bold guarantees that reverse risk and increase buyer confidence
• Optimizing checkout pages by reinforcing trust elements from your sales page
• Avoiding the common mistakes that hurt conversion rates
• Creating urgency through natural consequences rather than artificial scarcity

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Guest Contact Information: 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianlurie/
• https://www.ianlurie.com/

—

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Check out our backlog at Best SEO Podcast on YouTube and find our full-length video interviews @InternetMarketingSecrets on YouTube

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show

The SEO landscape is shifting dramatically with the rise of AI search and entity-based relationships, creating new challenges and opportunities for marketers. We explore how traffic patterns are changing as top-ranking sites lose clicks to AI overviews while brand searches increase, and discuss the critical importance of entity relationships in modern search strategy.

• Entity SEO requires mapping relationships between data points like organizations, places, authors, and products
• Structured data remains extremely valuable, acting as a "kindergarten reading level" translation of content for search engines
• AI adoption in search is currently low (1-2% for Google's AI Mode), but preparing now gives marketers a competitive advantage
• Many industries haven't yet felt significant impacts from AI search, creating a false sense of security
• Technical SEO fundamentals remain crucial. Ensure your site is crawlable before pursuing advanced AI strategies
• Large organizations like Apartments.com are integrating AI into products and operations while mapping complex entity relationships
• Content pruning and topical focus are increasingly important as search engines evaluate expertise more carefully.

----

Guest Contact Information: 

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

Apartments.com

—

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show

AI is fracturing the search ecosystem and creating new opportunities for SEOs to expand their role and demonstrate greater business value in this evolving digital landscape.

• Michael Buckbee discusses how AI is changing search and creating "siteless SEO"
• Traditional SEO has primarily been Google optimization, but search is now becoming a feature embedded across multiple platforms
• ChatGPT and other AI tools are often the first touchpoint for prospects, who may never visit your website
• AI search operates on different rules than traditional SEO—domain authority matters less while content repetition becomes paramount
• The BISCUIT framework helps marketers adapt: check technical foundations, conduct business intelligence, and shift content strategy
• Post-purchase attribution surveys often reveal that AI search plays a larger role in customer acquisition than analytics suggest
• Distributing the same content across multiple platforms strengthens your position in AI search results
• Companies should track how their brand appears in AI responses and optimize accordingly
• Content strategy should include both "faceless" (informational) and "face" (perspective-driven) content
• Agentic search is emerging, where AI assistants conduct research on behalf of users and present summaries.

-------------
Guest Contact Information: 

- https://knowatoa.com/

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbuckbee/

—----------

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show

Search is rapidly changing as traffic is being redistributed across platforms, with AI overviews and LLMs dramatically changing how users find information and interact with brands.

• Two distinct camps exist in responding to AI changes: those who see it as a threat versus those who view it as an unprecedented opportunity
• Despite traffic metrics declining, brand visibility may actually be increasing in places you can't easily measure
• Media Mix Modeling (MMM) is emerging as a better way to evaluate marketing impact versus traditional attribution models
• Website traffic is down approximately 58.5% due to zero-click searches and AI interfaces
• Successful businesses need to focus on their topical authority rather than trying to rank for everything
• Content pruning has become essential as excess pages create friction that slows down site performance
• Understanding your ideal customer profile (ICP) and focusing on their specific needs is critical
• LLMs are increasingly integrated with search engines, creating a merged experience for users
• SERP analytics has replaced simple rank tracking as the way to measure competitive positioning

------------

Guest Contact Information: 

- https://www.demandsphere.com/demo/?affiliate_id=matt_bertram

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/raygrieselhuber/ 

—----------

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show

Kevin Surace, known as the father of virtual assistants, shares his insights on how AI is revolutionizing marketing and business operations. We discuss the democratization of content creation, the transformation of search, and why companies refusing to embrace AI are heading toward extinction.

• AI is making marketers 10-100x more productive by enabling rapid content creation and analysis.
• Content that previously took weeks can now be generated in minutes with equal or better quality.
• The future of SEO is uncertain as AI assistants increasingly answer queries directly without sending users to websites.
• People who use AI tools for everything are gaining massive advantages over those who are only "playing" with the technology.
• Corporate policies banning AI use are equivalent to companies refusing to use the internet in the 1990s.
• Creative professionals need to evolve from content creators to strategic partners who guide and refine AI outputs.
• Marketing agencies must position themselves as "robot overlords" rather than doers to remain relevant.
• The best implementation strategy is to start with tools like Microsoft Copilot before advancing to more sophisticated applications.
• Successful AI adopters use these tools for every aspect of their workflow, not just occasional specialized tasks.

--------

Guest Contact Information:
https://www.kevinsurace.com/

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

—----------

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—
The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show

Authentic storytelling in marketing is much more than a trendy buzzword; it's a comprehensive strategy that should permeate every customer interaction from first touch to final purchase and beyond.

• Effective storytelling means presenting your brand's story as an evolving journey that spans multiple touchpoints
• The customer journey increasingly happens off your website, making platform-diverse content essential
• YouTube is overtaking Google as a search destination, highlighting the growing importance of video content
• When articulating your unique value, ensure it's something competitors can't claim, and focus on specific customer experiences
• Content must trigger emotional responses to stand out in today's oversaturated market
• Create a content ecosystem with three tiers: hero content (high production), hub content (product-focused), and hygiene content (quick updates)
• Assert your company value—don't be afraid to boldly state "we are" rather than "we could" or "we do"
• Case studies focusing on customer stories rather than your company are incredibly effective for building trust
• Brands should measure top-of-mind awareness and brand favorability to track storytelling effectiveness
• Always use your first-party data to validate what advertising platforms tell you

Guest Contact Information: 

-https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-garitty/

-https://fpwmedia.com/

—----------

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show

Everything is changing in digital marketing, with SEO becoming more dynamic and YouTube emerging as one of the biggest ways to build your brand. For those afraid of video marketing, now is the time to take the leap and establish a YouTube presence.

• YouTube content lives long-term, unlike other platforms where posts disappear within 48 hours
• The most effective YouTube ads follow a hook-educate-call to action structure
• Balance AI capabilities with human strategy to create marketing that stands out
• Create custom audiences by training Google's AI based on your ideal customers' behaviors
• Scale campaigns using the "tree method" rather than the "balloon method"
• Target specific users through custom intent, affinity, and URL-based audience creation
• Batch-film YouTube content monthly instead of trying to produce weekly videos
• Use AI tools like Opus Clip to transform long-form content into daily shorts

------

Guest Contact Information: 

https://adoutreach.com/gift/

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

—----------

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show

Jason Moss shares the CEO Freedom Formula, a powerful roadmap for scaling businesses through identity shifts and strategic improvements. The formula merges internal mindset work with external business strategy to help entrepreneurs break through revenue plateaus and experience sustainable growth.

• CEO Identity: changing your self-perception to match your desired business level
• The business you have is a mirror reflecting who you are as an entrepreneur
• Eliminate before you delegate to avoid building systems around unnecessary tasks
• Optimizing marketing requires balancing personal connection with scalable systems
• The three levels of entrepreneurial consciousness: willful, intellectual, and intuitive
• Success comes from making decisions as the person who's already achieved their goals
• Marketing is fundamentally about human connection, not complicated technical systems
• Personal brand and authenticity are becoming more crucial as AI-generated content proliferates

Guest Contact Information: 

• jasonmoss.com
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH-cra7oIvEzolvMP4otesw
• http://go.jasonmoss.com/scaling-guide?source=UnknownSecretsPodcast

—----------

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes Only.

Support the show

Sales and marketing are becoming increasingly interconnected, with the most successful businesses breaking down silos between departments. Digital marketers must expand their skill sets beyond specialized areas like SEO or content creation to embrace analytics, client communication, and sales principles.

• Modern marketing requires understanding that different social platforms have unique algorithms and audience expectations
• Focus on mastering one platform before expanding to others – content that goes viral on one platform may fall flat on another
• We're experiencing a "trust recession" where cold outreach is less effective than in previous years
• Live events and webinars are outperforming traditional video sales letters as they build relationships and establish trust
• The two biggest problems facing sales teams are culture and skillset issues
• AI is transforming sales processes through call analysis and highly targeted advertising
• Data-driven targeting can reduce customer acquisition costs by 40-70%
• The most effective sales approach today is consultative rather than aggressive
• Building trust is more important than being liked – customers need to trust that you can deliver results

-------

Guest Contact Information: 

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffketterer/

—---

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—

The Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing podcast is a podcast hosted by Internet marketing expert Matthew Bertram. The show provides insights and advice on digital marketing, SEO, and online business. 

Topics covered include keyword research, content optimization, link building, local SEO, and more. The show also features interviews with industry leaders and experts who share their experiences and tips. 

Additionally, Matt shares his own experiences and strategies, as well as his own successes and failures, to help listeners learn from his experiences and apply the same principles to their businesses. The show is designed to help entrepreneurs and business owners become successful online and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts.

Find more great episodes here: https://www.internetmarketingsecretspodcast.com/  

https://seo-podcast-the-unknown-secrets-of-internet-marketing.buzzsprout.com

Follow us on:
Facebook: @bestseopodcast
Instagram: @thebestseopodcast
Tiktok: @bestseopodcast
LinkedIn: @bestseopodcast

Powered by: ewrdigital.com

Hosts: Matt Bertram 

Disclaimer: For Educational and Entertainment purposes only.

Support the show