Chris Turnbull: Navigating The Changing Landscape of Local SEO

Update: 2025-09-15

Description

Episode: Unscripted SEO Podcast
Host: Jeremy Rivera - Unscripted Podcast
Guest: Chris Turnbull, Founder of Catalyst Marketing
Duration: ~45 minutes

Episode Description

Join Jeremy Rivera as he sits down with Chris Turnbull, founder of Catalyst Marketing, for an unfiltered discussion about how SEO has evolved over the past 13 years. From Google's monopolistic behavior to the rise of AI overviews, this conversation explores why local SEO has remained surprisingly stable while broader search continues to fragment across multiple platforms.

Chris shares insights from his journey from apprentice SEO to agency founder, specializing in performance marketing for local service businesses. The duo dives deep into the breakdown of traditional content marketing, the rise of user-generated content, and why Reddit posts now carry the same weight as backlinks from 2015.

Key Topics Covered

The Google Monopoly & Search Evolution

How Google evolved from "organizing the world's data" to "being the world's data"

The enshitification of search results and AI overview accuracy issues

Why we've become "beta testers" for tech corporations

The removal of search liaison positions and lack of feedback loops

Local SEO: What's Changed vs. What Hasn't

Why local SEO fundamentals from 2008 still work today

The continued importance of Google Business Profile, citations, and reviews

How LLMs heavily weight reviews and local mentions

Digital PR as the evolution of community involvement

The Content Creation Paradox

Google's contradictory demand to "create content for humans" while using bots to consume it

The problem of trillion duplicate articles from marketing agencies

How algorithm updates have created unsustainable content cycles

The information contamination problem with AI-generated content

Multi-Platform SEO Strategy

Why websites are no longer the central hub of marketing

The octopus model: tentacles with independent value

Reddit posts, LinkedIn Pulse, and social media as ranking factors

The breakdown of walled gardens and rise of indexed social content

Industry Role Evolution

The rise of fractional CMOs and why traditional SEO roles are expanding

How SEOs are becoming digital marketing business consultants

The challenge of specialization vs. generalization in agencies

Why keyword research now requires understanding of email, social, and brand marketing

Killer Quotes

Jeremy Rivera:

"It feels like we have been demoted to beta testers as the public... I remember search results from 2014 that were so scandalous they got a public apology. Now we have an age of lawlessness."

"Getting a huge upvoted post on Reddit now carries as much weight and value as getting a huge backlink did in 2015."

Chris Turnbull:

"What worked in SEO five years ago is still working now for local high-intent terms... It's dragging people who just focused on SEO into the wider marketing sphere."