Question 1

What are the key takeaways from Eli Schwartz's episode on Lenny's Podcast?

Accepted Answer

1. SEO should be treated as a product discipline, not just a marketing tactic -- product managers should own the SEO strategy because it requires understanding user journeys, building real experiences, and allocating engineering and design resources. 2. The rise of AI Overviews is shifting SEO value from top-of-funnel content (informational queries) to mid-funnel experiences where user intent and conversion potential are highest -- companies should focus on being present where buyers are ready to act. 3. Most B2B SaaS companies should seriously question whether SEO is the right investment, because the buyer journey often requires committee decisions, sales conversations, and integrations that don't convert from organic search alone. 4. Link building as traditionally practiced is largely a myth -- the real path to SEO authority is building a strong brand that earns organic mentions, not buying guest posts on low-authority websites nobody reads. 5. Google's dominance is deeply entrenched through default distribution agreements and 25 years of user habit -- LLM startups are unlikely to unseat Google as the primary search platform, meaning SEO remains a durable channel for companies where it fits.

Question 2

What does Eli Schwartz say about product-thinking and seo-strategy?

Accepted Answer

"I think of SEO as a product. And I think the product managers are the people that should be thinking about this SEO question because it's a product question. There are users that are coming in from the search channel. What is the product that I need to create for them? What is the experience that I need to create for them?" - Eli Schwartz "The product people now need to think about how do we position this to the user that is not going to find out about this from a social channel, the user that's not going to be attracted by an ad, the user that's not going to discover this tool from a trade show. This is a user that's doing their own self-discovery journey, and this is what is the thing they're looking for and how do we position this product in a way that they're going to find it." - Eli Schwartz "I think step one is the step that almost everyone misses on SEO, which is be the user. Try to understand who your user is. So the first thing anybody should really do around anything that they're trying to do SEO is try to be that customer. If I am a user of this SaaS, I'm building SaaS, and I want to market this tool, what is a user going to look for?" - Eli Schwartz

Question 3

What are Eli Schwartz's views on product-thinking, seo-strategy, user-experience?

Accepted Answer

Eli Schwartz: "I think of SEO as a product. And I think the product managers are the people that should be thinking about this SEO question because it's a product question. There are users that are coming in from the search channel. What is the product that I need to create for them? What is the experience that I need to create for them?" Eli Schwartz: "The product people now need to think about how do we position this to the user that is not going to find out about this from a social channel, the user that's not going to be attracted by an ad, the user that's not going to discover this tool from a trade show. This is a user that's doing their own self-discovery journey, and this is what is the thing they're looking for and how do we position this product in a way that they're going to find it."

Eli Schwartz

Rethinking SEO in the age of AI | Eli Schwartz (SEO advisor, author)

TRANSCRIPT

Eli Schwartz

Rethinking SEO in the age of AI | Eli Schwartz (SEO advisor, author)

Eli Schwartz

Rethinking SEO in the age of AI | Eli Schwartz (SEO advisor, author)

TRANSCRIPT

Eli Schwartz

Rethinking SEO in the age of AI | Eli Schwartz (SEO advisor, author)