This post was sponsored by NESS. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.
For anyone who isn’t paying attention to news SEO because they feel it isn’t their relevant niche – think again.
The foundations of SEO are underpinned by publishing content. Therefore, news SEO is relevant to all SEO. We are all publishers online.
John Shehata and Barry Adams are the experts within this vertical and, between them, have experience working with most of the top news publications worldwide.
Together, they founded the News and Editorial SEO Summit (NESS) in 2021, and in the last four years, the SEO industry has seen the most significant and rapid changes since it began 30 years ago.
I spoke to both John and Barry to get their insights into some of the current issues SEOs face, how SEO can survive this AI-first era, and to get a preview of the topics to be discussed at their upcoming fifth NESS event to be held on October 21-22, 2025.
You can watch the full interview at the end of this article.
SEO Repackaged For The AI Era
I started out by commenting that recently, at Google Search Central Live in Thailand, Gary Illyes came out to say that there is no difference between GEO, AEO, and SEO. I asked Barry what he thought about this and if the introduction of AI Mode is going to continue taking away publisher traffic.
Surprisingly, Barry agreed with Google to say, “It’s SEO. It’s just SEO. I fully agree with what the Googlers are saying on this front, and it’s not often that I fully agree with Googlers.”
He went on to say, “I have yet to find any LLM optimization strategy that is not also an SEO strategy. It’s just SEO repackaged for the AI era so that agencies can charge more money without actually creating any more added value.”
AI Mode Is A Threat To Publisher Traffic
While AI Overviews have drawn significant attention, Barry identifies AI Mode as a more serious threat to publisher traffic.
Unlike AI Overviews, which still display traditional search results alongside AI-generated summaries, AI Mode creates an immersive conversational experience that encourages users to continue their search journey within Google’s ecosystem.
Barry warns that if AI Mode becomes the default search experience, it could be “insanely damaging for the web because it’s just going to make a lot of traffic evaporate without any chance of recovery.”
He added that “If you can maintain your traffic from search at the moment, you’re already doing better than most.”
Moving Up The Value Chain
At NESS, John will be speaking about how to survive this AI-first era, and I asked him for a preview of how SEOs can survive what is happening right now.
John highlighted a major issue: “Number one, I think SEOs need to move up the value chain. And I have been saying this for a long time, SEOs cannot be only about keywords and rankings. It has to be much bigger than that.”
He then went on to talk about three key areas as solutions: building topical authority, traffic diversification, and direct audience relationships.
“They [news publishers] need to think about revenue diversification as well as going back to some traditional revenue streams, such as events or syndication. They also need to build their own direct relationships with users, either through apps or newsletters. And newsletters never got the attention they deserve in any of the different brands I’m familiar with, but now it’s gaining more traction. It’s extremely important.”
Quality Journalism Is Crucial For Publishers
Despite the AI disruption, both John and Barry stress that technical SEO fundamentals remain important, but to a point.
“You have to make sure the foundations are in place,” Barry notes, but he believes the technical can only take you so far. After that, investment in content is critical.
“When those foundations are at the level where there’s not much value in getting further optimization, then the publisher has to do the hard work of producing the content that builds the brand. The foundation can only get you so far. But if you don’t have the foundation, you are building a house on quicksand and you’re not going to be able to get much traction anyway.”
John also noted that “it’s important to double down on technical elements of the site.” He went on to say, “While I think you need to look at your schema, your speed, all of the elements, the plumbing, just to make sure that whatever channel you work with has good access and good understanding of your data.”
Barry concluded by reaffirming the importance of content quality. “The content is really what needs to shine. And if you don’t have that in place, if you don’t have that unique brand voice, that quality journalism, then why are you in business in the first place?”
The AI Agents Question
James Carson and Marie Haynes are both speaking about AI agents at NESS 2025, and when I asked Barry and John about the introduction of AI agents into newsrooms, the conversation was both optimistic and cautious.
John sees significant potential for AI to handle research tasks, document summarization, and basic content creation for standardized reporting like market updates or sports scores.
“A lot of SEO teams are using AI to recommend Google Discover headlines that intrigue curiosity, checking certain SEO elements on the site and so on. So I think more and more we have seen AI integrated not to write the content itself, but to guide the content and optimize the efficiency of the whole process.” John commented.
However, Barry remains skeptical about current AI agent reliability for enterprise environments.
“You cannot give an AI agent your credit card details to start shopping on your behalf, and then it just starts making things up and ends up spending thousands of your dollars on the wrong things … The AI agents are nowhere near that maturity level yet and I’m not entirely sure they will ever be at that maturity level because I do think the current large language model technology has fundamental limitations.”
John countered that “AI agents can save us hundreds of hours, hundreds.” He went on to say, “These three elements together, automation, AI agents, and human supervision together can be a really powerful combination, but not AI agent completely solo. And I agree with Barry, it can lead to disastrous consequences.”
Looking Forward
The AI-first era demands honest acknowledgment of changed realities. Easy search traffic growth is over, but opportunities exist for publishers willing to adapt strategically.
Success requires focusing on unique value propositions, building direct audience relationships, and maintaining technical excellence while accepting that traditional growth metrics may no longer apply.
The future belongs to publishers who understand that survival means focusing on their audience to build authentic connections that value their specific perspective and expertise.
Watch the full interview below.
If you’re a news publisher, or an SEO, you cannot afford to miss the fifth NESS on October 21-22, 2025.
SEJ readers have a special 20% discount on tickets. Just use the code “SEJ2025” at the checkout here.
Headline speakers include Marie Haynes, Mike King, Lily Ray, Kevin Indig, and of course John Shehata and Barry Adams.
Over two days, there are 20 speakers representing the best news publishers such as Carly Steven (Daily Mail), Maddie Shepherd (CBS), Christine Liang (The New York Times), Jessie Willms (The Guardian), among others.
Check out the full schedule here.
Featured Image: Shelley Walsh/Search Engine Journal/ NESS