AI and SEO – Emilio García
Emilio García is an SEO expert and content creator. He hosts the well-known SEO podcast called ‘Campamento Web,’ where he shares news, interviews with other specialists and quality content to help you optimise your website, boost traffic and increase revenue.
He is the author of the book ‘Personal Branding’ and, together with Jesús Arias, has launched the Search Lab project, a training course on SEO and AI. He has also participated in numerous conferences at various marketing and communication events and has carried out hundreds of website audits.
In the interview, we ask him about his career since he was 11 years old, how the strategy he follows with his projects has changed and the evolution of SEO with the rise of AI.
Your first contact with a website was at the age of 11 with the school blog. What did your friends think?
Well, my memories are positive. I created a blog for our class where I posted the cinema listings, jokes, interesting news items… they liked what I was doing. I also remember drawing comic strips (or trying to) and occasionally bringing them to class for everyone to read.
All in all, it went pretty well. In fact, other classmates were also encouraged to set up their own blogs, even writing ones, where they uploaded chapters of stories they made up. But in the end, I’m the one who’s spent my whole life in the online world like a geek, ha ha ha.
How do you view people who still use this method of monetisation today?
I see them as heroes, ha ha ha. I still use AdSense to monetise today, but I don’t think it’s as golden as it was years ago. I was lucky enough to experience part of that era, albeit briefly, because I arrived just as Google’s anti-spam updates, keyword stuffing detection and other aggressive positioning methods that used to work wonders were being introduced.
Right now, I still see AdSense as a great source of monetisation, but I think content creation, along with monetisation through my own products/services or direct agreements with brands, are now my favourite ways to make money.
Do you still have any of the websites you created in the beginning?
Yes, I still have an Animal Crossing website, which is where I really discovered the potential of SEO in 2009. If you were around during the Animal Crossing: Wild World era for Nintendo DS, you’ll know which one I mean, because it ended up getting even more searches than the game itself, and I accumulated more than 150 cheats on the page. I was a real fan of the series.
Thanks to this blog, I started collaborating with Nintendo’s Official Magazine when I was 15. I also remember turning down invitations to some Nintendo events because I had Social Studies exams or something like that, ha ha ha. It was a curious time. I wasn’t aware of what a blog could achieve, and every day I had a new surprise in my email. I remember it with great affection.
Are you more interested in money or brand strategy?
Always brand strategy. The money will come if we do things right. But our focus is on making sure everyone is satisfied with the content we release, whether it’s free or paid, and becoming a leading training provider in SEO and AI. We work at a very fast pace to make sure everything is perfect, but since it’s something we enjoy doing, we have a lot of fun too.
How do you manage to create quality content?
I would say by always contributing something new. By being the primary source or offering the same information, but presenting it in a better way.
There are user satisfaction values that both Google and YouTube take into account: CTR and pogo-sticking in the case of Google, or CTR and retention in the case of videos.
It’s all about adequately satisfying the search intent, meeting or exceeding the expectations of those who view your content.
I have been teaching SEO for many years, and now that artificial intelligence is at the forefront, I realise that we need to diversify and create content that we may not have considered before.
Does working on your personal brand make more sense now than ever before?
Yes, in my opinion, absolutely. In an era where anyone can create relatively easy and “quality” content, having personality and making people want to listen to you and not someone else is vital.
It’s what will really set us apart from the crowd. Something about us needs to stand out, whether it’s in form or content, so that people prefer to see us and not someone else.
How can we promote a new business without creating informational content and without paying for advertising?
Today, I would definitely focus on video. I have been teaching SEO for many years, and now that artificial intelligence is at the forefront, I realise that we need to diversify and create content that we may not have considered before.
You will notice that for many Google searches, video modules are ranked higher than websites, or even that YouTube appears as a reference source in the AI-generated view.
The same goes for local SEO, professional service landing pages, online shops… For many keywords with a more commercial focus, AI does not appear.
In addition to this, Parasite SEO has also come back into fashion, which consists of taking advantage of the authority of other websites such as Reddit, which work particularly well on Google, to create topics or comment on others with the aim of feeding off their organic visibility.
Any tips for meeting people at events?
Say hello to the person sitting next to you and learn the names of as many people as you can: speakers, organisers…
I’ve established very good relationships with people I’ve met at events, simply because they approached me and said, ‘Hey, I know you from Campamento Web,’ and from there we hit it off, or because I approached them and said, ‘Hey, you don’t know who I am, but I follow you on such-and-such.’
It’s usually easier to start talking to people whose names you know and something about their background, such as speakers. Otherwise, talking to the person sitting next to you is another good option.
Are you answering these questions with AI?
No way, I’m using it so much that I missed typing, ha ha ha ha — just kidding, just kidding.
Well, those hyphens are very typical of ChatGPT…
Are you more of a fan of Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity? Any others?
Well, I’ve always been a big fan of ChatGPT, in fact it’s still the one I use the most, but I’m fascinated by Gemini’s technical ability to generate images with Nano Banana. In a few months’ time, I don’t know which one I’ll stick with.
Do you think it would be more or less difficult to get to where you are today?
More difficult, for sure. There is more competition, more discontent in the world of SEO, which is what I am passionate about… and besides, the type of keywords I used to cover today would not generate traffic. For example, I doubt my Animal Crossing blog would have as much impact now with the emergence of AI responses.
As for YouTube, I think it would be more or less the same: I would perhaps try to position myself as a leader in AI for marketing, rather than SEO, because it’s still a discipline I work with on a daily basis and now has greater scalability.
Parasite SEO has also come back into fashion, which consists of taking advantage of the authority of other websites such as Reddit, which work particularly well on Google.
What did you learn from your studies and how have they influenced you?
I learned the importance of being organised, methodical and responsible. But in reality, I have always been self-taught since I was a child. I don’t remember any particular piece of knowledge that changed my life, but it all adds up. The brain assimilates and grasps concepts that remain swirling around in our heads, then mixes and merges them, and an innovative idea emerges. It can be anything we have seen or heard.
Who would you like us to interview?
Well, I don’t know any names, but I would ask them if they think AI will cause their turnover to fall in the next three years. I’m a bit negative in this regard, but not in my sector, rather with AI and the economy in general. I don’t know how we’re going to make the world work with AGI, but we’re in for some interesting years. Maybe I’ll get my Nintendo out of storage and lock myself away to play Animal Crossing again.
