In this episode, Kevin flips the script and interviews Glen Chamisa, the usual lead host, on what’s changing in technical SEO as we move deeper into AI-driven discovery.
The theme is simple and uncomfortable: technical SEO is no longer “the thing you fix when something breaks.” In 2026, it’s becoming a strategic capability that needs to be executable, explainable, and commercially accountable.
Chapters
- 00:00 Intro + flipping the script (Kevin interviews Glen)
- 01:00 Why Glen joined Growthack (personal goals + team direction)
- 03:15 How Glen’s podcast built communication + hosting skills
- 06:00 Thinking “Beyond SEO”: how other disciplines improve SEO
- 10:05 Supplements/healthcare SEO: compliance vs speed (and why it matters)
- 11:45 E-commerce scaling issues: crawlability, indexing, variants, duplicates
- 13:10 Why brands ignore technical foundations (brand masks the problems)
- 16:05 2026 technical SEO: deep knowledge + implementation + transparency
- 19:15 The communication gap: how SEOs navigate finance/COO scrutiny
- 22:00 “Show your working”: translating fixes into revenue outcomes
- 24:00 Glen’s hobbies + how to connect (LinkedIn)
Glen’s Industry Experience: Why Regulated Niches Don’t Scale Like Normal Ecommerce
Glen has worked across supplements, skincare, healthcare and ecommerce — categories where compliance and trust are often more important than speed.
“With supplement brands, regulation and compliance sometimes is more important than speed.”
That matters because many of the “standard growth plays” (template-driven publishing, aggressive programmatic page creation, scale-first content operations) carry higher risk in YMYL-adjacent spaces where accuracy and trust are scrutinised more heavily.
Google explicitly calls out that for topics that can impact “health, financial stability, or safety,” its systems give more weight to signals aligned with strong E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). See Google’s guidance on creating helpful, reliable content and its YMYL reference here: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
If you want the underlying definition of YMYL straight from the Quality Rater Guidelines (including the “high risk of harm” framing), the official PDF is here: Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF).
What Needs Focus in 2026: Technical SEO That Stakeholders Can Understand
Glen’s 2026 outlook is not “learn more technical SEO.” It’s: stop hiding behind it. Brands are bringing in COOs and finance-led operators, and the tolerance for vague explanations is disappearing.
“It’s not so much about knowing technical SEO… it’s about being able to implement your knowledge and explain to stakeholders what the issue is.”
This ties directly to the broader direction of Google’s quality systems: rewarding content and experiences that are genuinely useful, trustworthy and satisfying — not just “optimised.” (Again, the most direct reference is Google’s own guidance: helpful, reliable, people-first content.)
One practical way to read this: in 2026, technical SEO is becoming a leadership skill. If you can’t translate crawl/index/render into “revenue risk” or “efficiency gain,” you’ll lose budget and influence — even if you’re right.
Latest Technical SEO Statistics Brands Need to Know
- Google explicitly advises eliminating duplicates to focus crawling on unique content.
Google’s crawl budget documentation recommends consolidating duplicate content so crawlers spend time on what matters: Google: Crawl Budget Management.
Why it matters: duplicates don’t just “confuse rankings” — they consume crawl capacity that should be discovering and refreshing your money pages. - Less than half of origins meet “good” Core Web Vitals when assessed with INP.
Chrome UX Report release notes show 46.8% of origins had good Core Web Vitals (with INP-based assessment): Chrome UX Report: Release notes.
Why it matters: performance is still a widespread weakness — and slow, unstable UX is the kind of “silent technical debt” that compounds when AI discovery raises the bar. - Google’s December 2025 Core Update confirms ongoing emphasis on “relevant, satisfying content.”
The official Search Status Dashboard log is here: Google Search Status Dashboard: December 2025 core update, and an industry summary of rollout completion is here: Search Engine Land coverage.
Why it matters: if your technical foundations prevent crawling, indexing, or fast UX, you’re making it harder for Google to even evaluate whether your content is “satisfying.”
Important nuance: stats like “X% of crawl budget is wasted” vary wildly by site architecture and measurement method. The most reliable “truth” is the mechanism itself: uncontrolled parameters and duplication create crawl traps, and Google explicitly recommends managing URL inventory and consolidating duplicates to protect crawl efficiency (source).
How This Connects to YMYL and Trust in Supplements & Healthcare
Supplements, skincare and healthcare content is often adjacent to YMYL because claims can influence health and safety decisions. Google’s systems state they give “even more weight” to E-E-A-T-aligned signals for YMYL topics: Google’s people-first content guidance.
Practically, that means technical SEO must support trust signals rather than undermine them:
- Index control: prevent thin/duplicate pages being indexed (variants, parameters, internal search pages).
- Clear hierarchy: make the important pages discoverable and internally prioritised (not buried behind infinite filters).
- Performance stability: protect UX confidence on commercial and informational pages (Core Web Vitals are still a weak spot across the web).
- Explainable impact: translate technical fixes into business outcomes for stakeholders who care about risk, compliance, and revenue.
