Summary3 min read

Voices of Search Podcast

Episode: The State of Enterprise SEO is _____ ?
Date: October 10, 2025
Host: Tyson Stockton
Guest: Petra Kirchhe, Chameleon Journal (Freelance Consultant)

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the ever-shifting landscape of enterprise SEO, focusing on how rapid changes—especially around AI—are creating confusion for practitioners. Petra Kirchhe joins Tyson Stockton to unpack the sense of uncertainty and challenge that currently defines large-scale SEO and content strategies. The discussion delivers candid reflections on burnout, adaptation, and the evolving mindset necessary for SEO professionals.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The One Word for Enterprise SEO: "Confusion"

[00:43]

Prompt: Tyson asks Petra to sum up the current state of enterprise SEO in one word.
Petra’s Answer: "Confusion" (she considered "uncertainty," but felt confusion was more apt for 2025).

“Uncertainty has kind of always been part of our job. But I think with the current rate of acceleration… there is a lot of confusion around the role of SEOs within businesses and people trying to figure out what to learn next, what information to consume.”
— Petra Kirchhe [00:56]

2. Overload & Burnout in SEO Teams

The velocity of change is high—with new frameworks, tools, and AI metrics emerging rapidly.
Petra observes this leading to confusion and "very challenging emotions in general," including burnout.

“There is a lot of confusion... people are kind of jumping onto the trend of rebranding themselves as GEOs or whatever."
— Petra Kirchhe [01:35]

3. SEO: Evolving Titles, Unchanged Principles

Industry chatter suggests SEO is “dead,” or professionals are rebranding with new acronyms.
Petra’s stance: If your SEO foundation is strong—understanding algorithms, producing good content, building good websites—the core principles still hold, despite noise and disruption.

“If you've been doing SEO the way where you want to understand the algorithms, you want to provide good content, you want to have good websites, then nothing... changed for you. From a mindset point of view.”
— Petra Kirchhe [02:11]

4. Navigating the "AI Metrics" Hype

SEO professionals grapple with a flood of new metrics and tools focused on AI.
Many of these are experimental, and Petra cautions against taking them as definitive.

“A lot of answers don't exist yet for AI metrics… We are not confident in these yet. So that's why I think we have to embrace that confusion that the answers are not here yet.”
— Petra Kirchhe [02:50]

5. Experimentation as a Sign of Expertise

She encourages embracing uncertainty, experimenting, being transparent about confidence levels, and recognizing this phase as an expertise in itself.

“You can also be an expert in experimenting and not knowing and showing your confidence level in certain things.”
— Petra Kirchhe [03:09]

Memorable Quotes

On Burnout and Learning:
“There is more information now, so you need to really try to use time to reflect on it and see what works for you.”
— Petra Kirchhe [02:18]
On Embracing Uncertainty:
“We're experimenting and that's also a phase.”
— Petra Kirchhe [03:06]

Timestamps for Key Segments

Intro & Episode Setup: [00:00 – 00:43]
The State of Enterprise SEO—“Confusion”: [00:43 – 03:11]
Sponsor Break – Pre Visible: [03:11 – 04:35] (ad, content skipped)
Wrap-up and Petra’s Resources: [04:35 – 05:37]

Tone & Style

The conversation is candid, practical, and grounded in the realities of enterprise SEO today. Petra’s tone is empathetic toward SEO practitioners, highlighting shared challenges, while encouraging a mindset of continuous learning and experimentation.

Additional Resources

Petra Kirchhe’s Free Enterprise SEO Course: Link in the show notes
Contact Petra: LinkedIn (see episode notes)
Host Website: voiceofsearch.com

Summary prepared for listeners seeking actionable insights and a pulse on the real challenges facing enterprise SEO leaders in 2025.

Loading summary

Transcript6 lines

[00:00]
Tyson Stockton
The Voices of Search Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com welcome to the Voices of Search Podcast. A member of the I Hear Everything Podcast network, ready to expedite your company's organic growth efforts. Sit back, relax, and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom. Here's today's host of the Voices of Search podcast, Tyson Stockton.
[00:43]
Okay, so if you don't like short answers, this one's gonna be really tough. This one is what's the word? And so we're looking for one word to describe the current state of enterprise SEO.
[00:57]
Petra Kirchhe
So I'm gonna go with confusion. I was between uncertainty and confusion, but as you kind of pointed out earlier as well, uncertainty has kind of always been part of our job. But I think with the current rate of acceleration of how quickly and how much things change, there is a lot of confusion around the role of SEOs within businesses and people trying to figure out what to learn next, what information to consume, which I'm seeing kind of resulting in a lot of burnout or just sort of like very challenging emotions in general. Like we always say, you know, we hear the words SEO dead every year, like multiple times a day. It's just one of those things that now things are changing so quickly and people are kind of jumping onto the trend of rebranding themselves as GEOs or whatever. We know that at the end it's the same principle. If you've been doing SEO the the way where you want to understand the algorithms, you want to provide good content, you want to have good websites, then nothing. And you want to constantly learn and are curious because that's always been part of an SEO's role, then essentially nothing changed for you. From a mindset point of view. You just have to continue doing that and you probably just have to be better at. There is more information now, so you need to really try to use time to reflect on it and see what works for you. But yeah, I think there is a lot of confusion. And even if you're trying to find the answers, a lot of answers don't exist yet for AI metrics. There is a new tool that tracks AI metrics every day, and all tools are adding it in, which is obviously great because we have to experiment, we have to understand what we see today, but we are not confident in these yet. So that's why I think we have to embrace that confusion that the answers are not here yet. We're experimenting and that's also a phase. And you can also be an expert in experimenting and not knowing and showing your confidence level in certain things.
[03:12]
Pre Visible Sponsor
Time for a one minute break to hear from our sponsor, Pre Visible. So you're looking for SEO help. Then you got a couple of options. You could start replying to spam from agencies that claim they can get you to rank number one on Google. You can pay an hourly rate for a consultant who will inevitably nickel and dime you with hourly charges. Or you can work with a cookie cutter agency to quickly launch a strategy less project with low success rate. None of those sound very good now do they? Well, that's where Pre Visible's integrated consulting model comes in. Pre Visible draws from a collective free 40 years of SEO and digital marketing experience to unlock your organic growth opportunities. They build custom solutions that combine strategy, technical expertise, content and reporting to effectively operationalize SEO for your business. Pre Visible's four stage approach ensures that your SEO programs thrive by starting off with a strategy first approach. Then they support you in your efforts to create quality content, help you identify technical issues, and most importantly, they'll work with your cross functional teams to integrate your SEO strategies to make sure sure that your SEO budget actually drives results, not just your agency's bottom line. So join brands like Yelp, eBay, Canva, Atlassian Square, all who rely on the SEO consultants at Pre Visible. For more information go to Previsible IO that's Pre Visible P R E V I S I B L E I.
[04:36]
Tyson Stockton
Ok, that wraps up this episode of the Voice of Search podcast. Thanks again to Petra Kirchhe from Chameleon Journal providing her own freelance consulting. And also be sure to check out her recent Enterprise SEO course which is for free. You can find a link in the Show Notes or also the partners site Bulb who she worked with on it. If you'd like to contact Petra, you can find a link to her LinkedIn profile in the Show Notes. Or you can go on over to voiceofsearch.com where we'll have all of her contact information. If you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of SEO and content marketing knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button on your podcast app or on YouTube and we'll be back in your feed soon. But with that, that's all for today. Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you in the next episode.
[05:37]
Sam
Sam.