Search with Candour

Recorded the day after the first SearchNorwichXL, this episode recaps the last four weeks of SEO news from the Core Updates newsletter:Google rolling out google.com/goto pass-through URLs to deter scraping amid the SERP API lawsuit (with rank-tracking tools finding workarounds); Google Search Console’s generative AI performance reporting rolling out globally, showing impressions for AI Overviews/AI Mode, alongside a toggle to opt sites out of generative AI features without affecting organic rankings; data suggesting nearly all People Also Ask results are AI-generated; and a Google AI Contribution pilot in Search Console that tests paying publishers when their content significantly contributes to AI-generated responses in Gemini, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.News storieshttps://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-goto-tracking-41957.htmlhttps://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-ai-performance-reports-and-search-generative-ai-control-rolling-out-globally-486269https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7503164423075725313/https://9to5google.com/2026/09/17/google-ai-contribution-pilot-tests-paying-websites-when-theyre-used-in-ai-results/Chapters00:00 Welcome and recap01:11 SearchNorwichXL highlights02:15 September 2026 news02:40 Google’s new goto redirect URLs05:26 GSC AI reports rollout08:42 AI Overviews takeover People Also Ask11:15 Google pilots new publisher payment program15:44 Season five teaser17:21 Wrap up

Jack Chambers-Ward hosts a crossover episode of Search With Candour with Mel Barfield from Indie Business Club, discussing personal branding through shared interests, authenticity, and community.The conversation covers balancing personal brand with employed work, using hobbies (ranging from board games and films to music and cheese) to create relatable connections, and how small signals like presenting yourself authentically can create new connections. Jack & Mel also discuss how who you work with affects your brand reputation and why being nerdy about the things you care about is so important.Follow Mel:Website: https://allcopymel.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniebarfield/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0DTopTvMDkklkmpAfshIjWYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@indiebusinessclubpodChapters00:00 Introduction00:25 How Jack and Mel met03:23 Freelancing advice09:05 Building your brand with podcasting14:42 Nerd Signals That Connect16:14 Board games and playtime21:21 Content consumption habits24:08 Band t-shirts and relatability25:58 Cheese discussion30:49 The ethics of who you work with33:17 LinkedIn gurus35:55 Choose your clients carefully42:31 Should you niche down?44:21 Essentialism and focus48:38 Futureproof your personal brand53:44 How to be relatable59:19 See It. Say It. Sorted.01:04:45 Hobbies create connections and opportunities01:08:19 Align your personal brand with your values01:09:41 Find your audience01:11:33 Don’t write like your audience is children (unless they’re children)01:14:46 Curiosity builds rapport01:18:39 Being nerdy works01:22:46 Building a brand while employed01:27:20 Conference recognition01:29:21 Hot takes on LinkedIn01:34:13 Wrap up01:41:42 Where to follow us

🌟 SearchNorwichXL - 24 September 2026: https://searchnorwich.org/🎟️Get your tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/searchnorwichxl-a-one-day-seo-conference-with-world-class-speakers-tickets-1985283700992?discount=podcastJack Chambers-Ward previews SearchNorwichXLand shares two talks from past SearchNorwich events:First, Seb Atkinson shows how ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter is the cheat code you need to start automating SEO tasks and improve your data analysis abilities using Python - no prior coding skills required!Seb discusses the kinds of SEO activities you can automate with Python and how to use ChatGPT to get started, including what tools to use, example projects and prompts, how to resolve errors, and how to use ChatGPT to develop your own coding skills.Second, Mark Williams-Cook from Search Norwich 19, explains why using conceptual models is doing "advanced SEO" and what he learned from the Google exploit he discovered last year. Also, Mark describes how SEO is just like the video Theme Park (yes, seriously)⌚ Time stamps00:00 Introduction02:39 ChatGPT's Code Interpreter: Your secret weapon for SEO automation success - Seb Atkinson20:33 Improving your SEO with conceptual models - Mark Williams-Cook47:03 Wrap Up

Topics discussed:New EU transparency rules requiring clear labelling of AI-generated or AI-altered content across formatsMicrosoft Clarity is adding branded vs non-branded segmentation for AI query/citation reporting and share of authorityAnthropic’s Claude embedding watermarks/metadataGoogle is expanding AI Mode with interactive visualisations, quizzes, Lens learning features, and Notebook/Gemini integrationsGoogle is introducing google.com/goto redirecting tracking URLs aimed at reducing scraping abuse, with major rank-tracking tools saying it doesn’t impact tracking dataNews stories:https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/02/ai-generated-label-becomes-mandatory-in-the-eu-for-companieshttps://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/branded-non-branded-queries/https://www.cloudflare.com/press/press-releases/2026/cloudflare-adds-aeo-visibility-dashboard-to-its-aeo-suite-showing-brands-whether-ai-assistants-are-recommending-them/https://support.claude.com/en/articles/16266773-how-claude-marks-ai-generated-contenthttps://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-goto-tracking-41957.htmlTime stamps00:00 Coming up on the show00:26 Introduction01:45 EU AI-labelling rules06:31 Microsoft Clarity AI brand query filters11:31 Claude watermarking update15:45 Google AI visual tools22:49 Google anti-scraping URLs25:54 What’s coming up on season 528:05 Wrap up

Jack Chambers-Ward continues the hype for SearchNorwichXL by highlighting talks from Arnout Hellemans and Brendan Bennett, who will be speaking at SearchNorwichXL.Arnout’s talk from SearchNorwich 16 is titled ‘How to work on your SEO without paying for tools’, and Brendan’s talk from SearchNorwich 19 is titled ‘It’s not me, it’s you: Why your SEO or agency (probably) hates you’🎟️ Get 25% off SearchNorwichXL tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/searchnorwichxl-tickets-1985283700992?discount=podcast Chapters00:00 Introduction03:19 Arnout Hellemans’ talk23:43 In-between talks24:26 Brendan Bennett’s talk49:18 Wrap up