Eli Schwartz on Google’s GEO Advice and SEO Careers Today

Ross Hudgens sits down with Eli Schwartz, author of Product-Led SEO and former VP of SEO at SurveyMonkey, for a wide-ranging conversation on the real state of SEO in 2026. They break down Google's new AI search guidance (spoiler: it's basically just SEO), why there's a massive mismatch between what companies want from SEO teams and what they're getting, and why Eli thinks the SEO career path is broken but the demand for real SEO has never been higher. They also get into which industries are best positioned for the LLM era, why technical SEO is actually becoming more valuable, and why Eli thinks SEOs should start thinking of themselves as product managers. Chapter Markers 00:00:10 – Google's new AI search guidance 00:07:26 – Manipulation isn’t a strategy 00:12:22 – The SEO career mismatch 00:17:50 – Why SEO teams can't show their value 00:25:26 – New entrants and dying conferences 00:36:17 – The skills SEOs need now 00:43:35 – Why the best SEOs build things 00:57:45 – Which industries win in the LLM era Show Links Google’s GEO advice: https://developers.google.com/search/... Eli on LinkedIn:   / schwartze   Subscribe for weekly episodes: https://bit.ly/3dBM61f Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1kiaFGX... Follow Ross on X:   / rosshudgens   Follow Siege Media on X:   / siegemedia