Montse Cano (@montsecano.bsky.social)

Friday truths: SEO industry has become a pit full of bullies. My last brightonSEO main stage talk was one the best moments in my life and career, and looking back at it always felt nice, but… | Tamara Novitović | 36 comments Friday truths: SEO industry has become a pit full of bullies. My last brightonSEO main stage talk was one the best moments in my life and career, and looking back at it always felt nice, but yesterday I saw a photo from that talk and the memory felt different. In a bad way. The topic I pitched was quite a challenge to put together a year ago, when everything with AI was still somewhat new and not so explored. But I really wanted to move further with it, as it felt like the right thing to do. The goal I had with this talk was not so glamorous or made to bait engagement. It had a simple mission: to make AI search vs traditional search easy enough that you could explain it to your boss on a Monday. What I didn't expect was how many people would come up after... visibly worn down. Not confused by the tech or processes, but just worn down by the pressure. By the constant message that if you're not all-in on GEO yesterday, you're already obsolete. And mind you, this was 9 months ago. Today it feels like we're living in engagement-bait hell that thrives on GEO. Isn't it funny how every "SEO is dead, bow to GEO" take comes from a not so active ex-SEO, as an obviously AI-written brag fest, and cites approximately one case study held together with vibes. I'm not against AI in our work, but I am against guys profiting off other people's misery and I'm against bullying in the SEO industry. If you wanted the 'expert' title so hard and managed to gather enough audience to push your agenda, what is the point of confusing them further? Instead of using your platform to educate your audience and help them thrive in all search versions we have today, you deliberately chose to make them feel miserable for doing their jobs? Most SEOs aren't sitting on enterprise budgets, big teams and time to prompt dumb export automations all afternoon. They're doing the actual work, trying to keep up. They don't need to be shamed by someone chasing engagement, with probably just a fraction of actual skills and practical experience. They need people who genuinely know more to act like it. If your expertise only exists to make people with smaller budgets feel worthless, that's not thought leadership or whatever fame you're chasing. It's just highschool bullying for grown ups. I keep my hopes in people like Mark Williams-Cook, Lily Ray, Aleyda Solís, Daniel Foley Carter who built their platforms on years of research and real studies, and are now using their reach responsibly to help the industry adapt. AI became a big part of our everyday work, but we are still learning how to best use it, where we actually need it, and where our own expertise has more use. That's all folks💣 | 36 comments on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tamara-novitovic_friday-truths-seo-industry-has-become-a-share-7476197330828902400-PSYN