

News SEO: Challenges, Revenue Models, and Unchanging Truths | Barry Adams
Is AI about to reshape the future of online news as we know it?
In this episode of The Search Session, Gianluca Fiorelli sits down with Barry Adams—veteran SEO consultant and co-founder of the News & Editorial SEO Summit—for a candid conversation about where news publishing is headed in the age of AI.
Barry shares why he believes Google Discover will become an even more vital traffic source for publishers, and why "AI Mode" might be more disruptive than AI Overviews. He also discusses the shrinking landscape of news and why only publishers with a clear editorial direction will stand a chance.
If you work in news, content strategy, or SEO, this is a conversation you’ll want to hear.
This is the 18th episode of: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_sm3ydVBxdAJ84k2qsH1LkTDbtbdNrGh
Here's what you'll learn in this episode:
(00:22) Meet Our Guest: Barry Adams
(01:51) AI Overviews vs. AI Mode - and Their Impact on News
(08:55) A New Business Model for News
(18:03) News Licensing Deals and the LLM Economy
(22:28) How Smaller Publishers Can Survive
(26:03) What Traditional Publishers can Learn From Creators and Community Builders
(30:57) Barry’s Approach to SEO Audits, Client Relationships, and Lessons from the Field
(36:14) How “SEO Copywriting” and “AI Copywriting” Are Hurting Content
(40:02) The SEO Wisdom Barry Gained From Working With Clients
(45:12) Optimizing Multimedia Content
(48:08) The Fireside Questionnaire
Where to find Barry Adams
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryadams/
Website: https://www.polemicdigital.com
Where to find Gianluca Fiorelli
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gianlucafiorelli/
X: https://x.com/gfiorelli1
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gfiorelli1.bsky.social
Website: https://iloveseo.net/
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