01
Firsthand context
Private conversations with Google.
Josh can explain what Google told him privately, where those conversations matched the public guidance, and where independent testing found something different.
SEO educator / researcher / podcast guest
Make the hardest changes in search make sense.
Clear explanations. Real testing. Useful takeaways.
Josh Bachynski brings nearly three decades in search, current experiments and graduate work in philosophy to explanations people want to keep listening to.
Recently recorded
Search with Candour
79 minutes
Weekly SEO show
02
Public accountability
He questioned Google publicly.
Long before AI search, Josh examined Google’s power in industry coverage and on the TEDx stage—then taught audiences why the consequences matter.
The latest booking
One episode made sense of the ranking shift, the evidence and the ethics.
Search with Candour is a weekly SEO and search-marketing show featuring industry experts. Josh’s July 2026 interview ran for 1:19:39 and covered seven distinct producer-ready subjects.
“A great, insightful conversation.”
Jack Chambers-Ward, closing the episode
Top 5%Listen Notes show ranking
79 minSustained long-form interview
7Chaptered discussion subjects
Through the years
The stories producers can ask about.
Nearly three decades of search history, public teaching and moments that changed the industry conversation.
2014 / SMX West
Original coverage
View the record
2015 / Moz
Read the interview
2016 / TEDx
Watch the talk
2017 / Symposium
Read Entrepreneur
2018 / Community
Read the profile
2026 / Current
Open the episode
Google / private conversation
The Matt Cutts bombshell.
After a private one-on-one, Josh published his ethical case against Google’s punitive penalties, Knowledge Graph practices and manual actions. Matt Cutts publicly confirmed the conversation happened; Search Engine Roundtable said Josh’s account made it appear Google had conceded most of the case.
1997
2014 / Moz
The beginning
Started working in search.
Josh’s search career began before Google became the industry’s central platform.
Whiteboard Friday
Turned Google’s Panda statements into practical teaching.
Moz published Josh’s four evidence-based dos and don’ts drawn from statements by Google personnel.
Disavowgate
Tested a major SEO assumption—and started an industry-wide discussion.
Josh examined 12 claimed disavow-only Penguin recoveries and could not confirm that disavow alone caused the recovery.
Beyond the SEO industry
Took the ethics of Google Search to the TEDx stage.
The Future of Google, Search, and Ethics connected ranking systems with public knowledge, commerce and accountability.
Conference creator
Built a format where opposing SEO schools had to teach together.
Entrepreneur listed Josh’s two-day White Hat vs. Black Hat SEO Symposium first among its three standout underground SEO conferences.
Search community honor
Recognized for testing claims and teaching the results freely.
Search Engine Roundtable highlighted Josh’s scientific testing, constant publishing and willingness to ask questions others were not asking.
Search with Candour
Brought the full history into the AI-search era.
A 79-minute conversation connected current ranking experiments with the same questions about evidence, incentives and ethics.
Five clear lessons ready to record
Choose the topic. The preparation is already done.
Each concept gives listeners a clear question, a useful explanation and a sequence the host can use as written.
01
Current / evidence-led
What AI Overviews changed—and what the testing shows.
Listener promise: understand what changed between the traditional results and AI answers, how the change can be measured, and which assumptions no longer deserve automatic trust.
Five host questions
- What made you conclude AI Mode is the largest search change since 1998?
- How do the factors for ten blue links differ from the factors for AI Overviews?
- How do you isolate one factor instead of mistaking correlation for causation?
- Which result in your latest study surprised you most?
- What evidence should an SEO demand before spending a client’s money?
02
Clear / practical
How to separate tested SEO evidence from confident opinion.
Listener promise: learn how controlled tests work, why informed advice can differ, and how to make decisions while communicating uncertainty clearly.
Five host questions
- Why does correlation get reported as proof so often in SEO?
- What does a valid single-variable ranking test require?
- When should Google’s public guidance be treated as policy rather than mechanism?
- Which SEO belief has been most difficult to evaluate accurately?
- How can a small team make better decisions without running a research laboratory?
03
Systems / business ethics
How Google’s business model shapes organic search.
Listener promise: understand how advertising incentives, brand preference, AI answers and control over discovery affect marketers and publishers.
Five host questions
- How do Google’s public mission and advertising model influence the search experience?
- Why are ethics relevant to a technical SEO decision?
- What happens to publishers when an AI answer replaces the visit?
- How does brand preference change opportunities for smaller publishers?
- What would evidence-based and genuinely ethical marketing require?
04
Firsthand / inside Google
What Google told Josh in private—and what happened when he tested it.
Listener promise: hear the context Josh received directly in private conversations with Google, how it compared with the public guidance, and what independent testing later showed.
Five host questions
- What did Google tell you privately that was not clear in the public messaging?
- Where did those conversations match what your testing found?
- Where did the evidence tell a different story?
- How should marketers evaluate information that comes directly from Google?
- What did those conversations teach you about asking better questions?
05
Public record / accountability
Why Josh questioned Google publicly—before AI search raised the stakes.
Listener promise: understand the case Josh made in public, from industry coverage to TEDx, and why Google’s influence over information, businesses and the open web matters even more now.
Five host questions
- What first convinced you that Google’s power needed public scrutiny?
- Why did you take the issue beyond the SEO industry and onto a TEDx stage?
- Which concerns from that period have become more important with AI search?
- How do you question Google while still teaching marketers to work with its systems?
- What responsibility does the SEO industry have when search changes the public web?
76-second producer proof
See how Josh explains a difficult change.
The opening excerpt shows Josh making the current search shift understandable, connecting the testing to real business decisions and giving listeners a clear reason to care.
- 00:00 Why businesses are losing visibility
- 00:13 What the latest data analysis found
- 00:36 Why testing changes the ethical decision
Experienced in the format
A teacher who understands the host’s job.
91Source-linked guest interviews and broadcasts
32Search and SEO conversations
4Original shows hosted by Josh
21.7KCurrent YouTube subscribers
2026Search with CandourThe ethics of AI SEO and the new ranking factors↗
2024ProfitEnginesRevolutionizing SEO with AI↗
2024Voices of SearchThe Future of Google Search & Ethics↗
2024Make Each Click CountYes—When Done Right, SEO Still Works↗
2023Scale: Modern MediaThe Inevitable Impact of Generative AI on SEO↗
2016SEO Fight ClubSEO Interview Questions featuring Josh Bachynski↗
Check all 91 appearance sources
Producer kit
Everything needed to book and publish the episode.
Use the copy as written or edit it to match the show. The facts and source links are public.
01 / Fast facts
Booking information
- Guest
- Josh Bachynski
- Based
- Victoria, British Columbia · Pacific Time
- Format
- Remote audio or video · long-form ready
- Best subjects
- SEO testing, Google, AI search, ranking factors, technology ethics
- Direct contact
- media@joshbachynski.com
02 / Short bio
54 words
Josh Bachynski is an SEO researcher, TEDx speaker and founder of Underground SEO University. Working in search since 1997, he is known for controlled ranking tests that challenge industry consensus. His graduate work in ethics and decision theory gives him an unusual second perspective on Google, AI search and the incentives shaping the web.
03 / Medium bio
For show notes
Josh Bachynski is an SEO researcher, educator and TEDx speaker who has worked in search since 1997. He founded Underground SEO University and leads Be Found Everywhere, where his work focuses on controlled ranking experiments, AI search and forensic SEO. Josh holds a master’s degree in philosophy and completed doctoral research in ethics and rational decision theory. That combination—practical testing plus academic analysis—lets him discuss both what Google’s systems appear to reward and whether the incentives behind those systems serve businesses and the open web. He has taught at six institutions, presented from Sacramento to Poznań, hosted four original shows and appeared in 91 source-linked guest interviews and broadcasts.
04 / Host intro
Read on air
My guest is Josh Bachynski, an SEO educator, researcher, TEDx speaker and founder of Underground SEO University. He has worked in search since 1997, built his career around controlled ranking experiments, and studied ethics and rational decision theory at the graduate level. Today he is helping us understand what current testing shows about AI search and what marketers can learn from it.
05 / Images
Downloadable headshots
One email. A complete pitch.
Bring Josh into the conversation.
The booking email opens with fields for the show, format, topic and dates. Send it to Josh’s media address and continue directly.
Email media@joshbachynski.com