Tamara Novitovic, Head of SEO at Bazoom, joins the show to break down everything happening in search right now, from Google’s latest core and spam updates to the hard truths about link building, parasite SEO, and why most AEO pitches are pure noise.
Tamara explains why the recent spam update targeted specific black hat tactics like parasite SEO and affiliate manipulation, what the core update means for sites that went all-in on AI-generated content, and why Germany and the Netherlands are seeing unusual ranking drops.
She also unpacks why domain rating alone is a misleading metric for link quality, how her Impact Score framework helps evaluate backlinks beyond third-party tools, and why most AEO and GEO service offerings cannot actually track what they claim to track.
If you are a business owner, SEO professional, or marketer trying to navigate the post-AI search landscape without falling for the hype, this episode gives you a grounded, no-nonsense framework for thinking about authority, context, and visibility in 2026.
Tamara also shares why AI imposter syndrome is being manufactured, why LLMs are data processing tools not strategic thinkers, and why doing solid SEO fundamentals still beats chasing every new acronym in the industry.
Takeaways:
- Google's spam update lasted only hours, suggesting it targeted something specific
- Parasite SEO exploits large publishers like Forbes to rank affiliate content fast
- Domain rating measures link volume, not context or true relevance
- Domain authority is closer to a meaningful backlink metric than domain rating
- AI answers are not static, making AEO tracking claims largely impossible
- Brands cited frequently in fresh, contextual content rank better in LLM results
- LLMs are data processing tools, not strategic thinkers — use them accordingly
- AI imposter syndrome is manufactured pressure; solid SEO fundamentals still win