Welcome to Search With Sean: Weekly News — your concise roundup of the key stories shaping SEO, AI, search, digital PR, paid media, and digital strategy this week.

Co Host:Amanda Walls – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandajwalls/

Top Stories:In this week's top stories, ChatGPT unveils its new premium-priced ads, marking a big shift from traditional cost-per-click models to a cost-per-view approach. But with limited data and no clear ROI on conversions, how will advertisers adapt? The conversation continues with concerns over the growing dominance of YouTube in AI health-related searches, which raises red flags for trust and accuracy in medical information. Meta’s move to test paid subscriptions across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp also makes waves, potentially reshaping how we engage with social media. Lastly, Google's new user intent extraction method shows a deeper focus on behavior-driven search predictions, highlighting the growing role of AI in personalizing the search experience.

Top Videos:The video roundup includes Dan Petrovic’s insightful chat on The Future of AI Search, where he discusses how AI models will revolutionize SEO and content formats. The talk emphasizes clarity, entity signals, and the need for succinct content in an AI-driven world. Also featured is futurist Ray Kurzweil’s bold prediction on AGI in a Moonshots podcast, where he suggests that AI could surpass human intelligence by 2029, blending human capabilities with machines. Yuval Noah Harari’s presentation at the World Economic Forum adds to this by discussing the impact of AI on communication and society, warning that AI might soon surpass human control.

Top Social Posts:Social media has seen some important conversations this week. One stand-out post comes from Marie Haynes, who shared insights from Sam Altman’s OpenAI town hall. Altman raised alarms about AI’s potential to concentrate power and wealth, with the fast-paced advancements in AI outpacing governance. Meanwhile, a post about Google’s Gemini 3 integration into Chrome piqued interest across the digital marketing world. This new AI feature embedded in Chrome will automate everything from comparing products to scheduling appointments, directly competing with OpenAI’s offerings, and changing the way we interact with browsers.

View all stories + more here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRgApI9fMAMVswEIcS8iz2HXYpWXPlA2hjHZs8B9stlS6s8mvX-cAkHydCWW2yvca6Jv2sn0xu6w4Eg/pubhtml

Welcome to Search With Sean: Weekly News - your concise roundup of the key stories shaping SEO, AI, search, digital PR, paid media, and digital strategy this week.

Co-Hosts:

Nicola Agius – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-agius-8b330956/

Amanda Walls – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandajwalls/

Stanislav Farkas – https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanislav-farkas-fastraveller/

This week, we covered a wide range of hot topics in SEO, AI, and digital strategy.

First, we tackled the ongoing debate: Is SEO Dead? New data from Graphite and SimilarWeb showed that organic traffic is only down by 2.5% year-on-year, with certain sectors like shopping portals seeing growth. The presence of AI overviews, while reducing click-through rates by 35%, is still only visible in about 30% of search results. This highlights the ongoing importance of SEO, even with the rise of AI-driven search tools.

We also discussed OpenAI’s shift towards impression-based advertising within ChatGPT, which introduces a pay-per-view model that could reshape PPC strategies, especially in lead generation.

Meanwhile, Google’s Gemini platform has confirmed it won’t be introducing ads for now, presenting an interesting contrast to OpenAI’s approach, though this could change in the future as Google adapts its strategies.

On the jobs front, we highlighted the growing demand for AI-related roles, particularly in London, where positions like "Head of AI" and "AI Engineer" are becoming some of the fastest-growing opportunities in the job market. This shift is indicative of how deeply AI expertise is being integrated into various industries.

Top Videos 🎥

In this week’s video discussions, we reviewed Edward Sturm’s video challenging the efficacy of schema for SEO, questioning its value as a ranking factor for most sites. While schema is useful in specific cases like top stories carousels or large marketplaces, it’s not a game-changer for SEO on its own. We also explored how SEO KPIs are shifting, with a growing focus on intent-driven outcomes rather than simply traffic volume. This reflects a broader industry trend towards optimizing for high-quality traffic and engagement rather than just clicks.

We also covered a video on AI’s role in online shopping, examining how Google's new Universal Commerce Protocol could transform e-commerce by embedding AI agents directly in search results, bypassing the need for websites altogether.

Top Social Posts 📲

On social, Bernard Huang’s LinkedIn post made waves, declaring that the blue link era is officially over. With AI-driven responses becoming the focal point, brands must rethink how they appear in search results - it’s no longer just about ranking number one. He emphasized the need for brands to focus on AI visibility as we approach 2026 and beyond. Additionally, Glenn Gabe shared insights about GPT for Doctors, an AI platform increasingly used by U.S. doctors for medical guidance, showing how AI is being adopted in crucial sectors like healthcare.

View all stories + more here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRgApI9fMAMVswEIcS8iz2HXYpWXPlA2hjHZs8B9stlS6s8mvX-cAkHydCWW2yvca6Jv2sn0xu6w4Eg/pubhtml

Welcome to Search With Sean: Weekly News - your concise roundup of the key stories shaping SEO, AI, search, digital PR, paid media, and digital strategy this week.

Co Hosts:

Amanda Walls https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandajwalls/

We covered the following + more:

Top Stories

We unpacked the December Google Core Update, including volatility, stronger signals around real expertise + intent matching, and why E-E-A-T now matters beyond classic YMYL.

We also discussed fresh research showing AI search usage is accelerating, with Google not losing users so much as losing clicks — as more journeys stay inside AI answers.B

uilding on that, we explored Grounding + citations research, including Dan Petrovic’s “grounding chunks” analysis — and what it suggests about ranking position, chunk size, and how sources are selected.

Finally, we covered the growing impact on publishers, with major reports suggesting news sites expect significant traffic drops as AI summaries replace click-through behaviour.

Top Videos

We reviewed key videos on:

Digital PR + journalism — what actually makes a story newsworthy today, and why survey-led campaigns are becoming essential

Local SEO + AI visibility — how LLMs cite and surface local businesses, and what drives mentions

Humanoid robotics progress — showing how quickly AI is moving from “software” into real-world capability (warehouses, factories, automation)

Top Social Posts

This week’s standout posts included:

Ads inside AI Overviews — why PPC is shifting toward intent + trust, not just auction mechanics (and why brand signals now matter more)

Google Merchant Center “AI business agent” — retailers training a virtual assistant in their brand voice to answer product questions and support conversion