Stephan Bajaio — CEO and co-founder of Vibe Logic, former co-founder of Conductor, and ex-CMO — joins Jeremy Rivera on the Unscripted SEO Podcast for one of the most candid conversations we've had about why the SEO industry keeps losing the narrative about itself — and what practitioners can actually do about it.

Stephan built his career from the dot-com era through to co-founding one of the largest enterprise SEO platforms ever built. He's seen the industry from every angle — agency, platform, C-suite — and he doesn't pull punches about where we've gone wrong or how to fix it.

• Why the GEO / AIO naming debate is a symptom of a bigger identity problem — and why fixing it starts with SEOs, not executives
• What SEO actually is when you strip away the jargon: connecting organizational wisdom to the audience that needs it
• The lonely island problem — why even great SEOs fail when the content team, dev team, and CMO aren't aligned
• How conflicting KPIs create internal friction and a practical approach to working with — not against — the people who control execution
• Why the best keyword research is a conversation — Jeremy's concrete-wall installer example and how to build content from real expert interviews
• Content value beyond organic traffic — why reporting only on organic is leaving most of the story untold
• Vibe Logic's 'web presence intelligence' framework and the concept of being where decisions are formed, not just where they're made
• Why passion is the one trait in great SEOs you simply cannot teach

In this episode of the Unscripted SEO Podcast, host Jeremy Rivera sits down with Brandon Leibowitz, founder of SEO Optimizers — a full-service digital marketing agency based in Los Angeles. With nearly two decades of experience in SEO, paid ads, social media, and coaching, Brandon shares his grounded, practitioner-level take on the AI search landscape and what actually moves the needle.

• How AI-powered search surfaces (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot) are — and aren’t — changing SEO workflow
• Why schema markup is the highest-leverage technical tactic for AI visibility
• The difference between informational and transactional AI search behavior
• A page-by-page schema architecture strategy for e-commerce and service sites
• How to use competitor schema analysis as a gap-finding tactic
• Why content + backlinks + technical SEO must all work together

“The AI overview is just a featured snippet — just a new way to rebrand it for Google. The old tactics, the old strategies already worked.” — Brandon Leibowitz

“The more touch points you have and more places people find you, the more likely they are to want your product or service in the future.” — Brandon Leibowitz

• SEO Optimizers — Brandon’s agency
• Free Gift + Classes from Brandon
• Free Website SEO Analysis
• Google Search Console
• Ahrefs
• Brandon on LinkedIn
• Unscripted SEO Podcast
• Jeremy Rivera – About

Website: seooptimizers.com

Free Gift: seooptimizers.com/gift

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brandonleibowitz

The Unscripted SEO Podcast is hosted by Jeremy Rivera, SEO consultant and founder of SEO Arcade. Each episode features candid, unscripted conversations with leading SEO practitioners, agency founders, and digital marketing veterans.

Greg Merrilees is the founder of Studio1 Design — a conversion-focused website agency that has designed for over 2,000 businesses worldwide, including Hollywood A-listers like Sylvester Stallone. He’s the author of Next Level Website Design and has been building websites since 2009.

In this episode, Jeremy Rivera sits down with Greg to tackle whether websites are still relevant, how to build for searcher intent, why copywriting beats design every time, and what the rise of AI vibe coding actually means for your brand.

• Do you really need a website in 2025? Greg’s nuanced take on social media vs. owned assets
• The cold / warm / hot traffic model and how to match your CTA to intent
• Why Microsoft Clarity should be on every website (and how it compares to Hotjar)
• Website design trends to avoid in 2026 — and what converts instead
• How to find your unique positioning in a commoditized niche
• Interactive lead magnets vs. PDF downloads — what actually converts today
• The AI sameness problem: why vibe-coded websites all look the same

• Studio1 Design — Greg’s agency
• Next Level Website Design (Book)
• Free Resources — Custom GPT + book companion
• Microsoft Clarity — Free heatmaps & session recording
• Enterprise Fitness (macro calculator example)
• Yoshua Law (case study)
• Greg’s email: greg@studio1design.com
• Connect with Jeremy Rivera
• SEO Arcade — Podcast-based content marketing & link building

• Don’t Chase Website Design Trends in 2026
• The Hidden Cost of Fancy Website Effects: Lost Conversions
• How We Turned a Law Firm Redesign Into 60% More Conversions
• How We Boosted a Fitness Business’ Bookings By 64%
• AI Killed Your Website Strategy: Here’s What Works Now
• How to Create a Personal Brand That Attracts Dream Clients