Why the top AEO podcasts are SEO shows
The top AEO podcasts are mostly SEO shows, and our editor, David Quaid, has a short answer for anyone who asks why: AEO is just SEO. Google says much the same thing in its own documentation:
"The best practices for SEO remain relevant for AI features in Google Search (such as AI Overviews and AI Mode)."
The same page explains that AI Overviews and AI Mode may use a "query fan-out" technique, running several related searches across subtopics before they write an answer. EVERY one of those searches has a ranking, and every ranking still comes down to Authority and Relevance. So the hosts and guests worth your time are the people who can explain how a page earns its place in those rankings, whatever they happen to call the discipline this year.
AEO podcast guests worth hearing
The AEO podcast guests worth hearing are the ones who can show you where an idea came from, and two of them were on The Edward Show this year doing exactly that.
Shaun Anderson has worked in search since the early 2000s and runs Hobo Web out of Scotland. Start with his episode on the Google API leak, "Google Wasn't Lying: What the Google API Leak Really Revealed About SEO", because it is built on what Google's own documents say rather than on anyone's opinion of them. He came back in January to explain what E-E-A-T is and what it isn't, and Primary Position, the agency our editor runs, has him on its Top 50 SEOs of 2026 with the API leak next to his name.
Ann Smarty is the one to hear on brands and AI answers. Her October 3 episode, "Google's AI Overviews Now Tell Customers Why to Avoid Your Brand", is about AI Overviews that now show up on plain brand-name searches and sometimes give people reasons to go elsewhere. If you sell anything, listen to that one first. Back in March she and our editor recorded an episode together on Reddit SEO, which is a subject of its own.
And our editor has been on The Edward Show often enough that you can find those episodes yourself.
How to get more out of an AEO podcast
To get more out of an AEO podcast, treat every episode as a set of claims to test rather than advice to follow. Our editor calls critical thinking the most important skill in SEO, and a podcast is a good place to practice it, because nobody on a podcast has to show their work.
So when a guest says something you can check, write it down, and then check it: on your own site, in Search Console, or against Google's documentation (Search Off the Record helps here, because it is Google explaining its own systems). If it holds up, use it. If the guest can't tell you how they know, that is your answer too.
The same test works on agencies. If an agency you're considering has someone on one of these shows, listen before the sales call, because a long unscripted conversation tells you more about how a team thinks than any deck will. When you're ready to shortlist, our guide on how to choose an AEO agency has the questions to ask.
How a podcast gets on this list
A podcast gets on this list when it publishes regular episodes on SEO and AI search in 2026, hosted by people who do the work or by a search engine itself. Shows are listed A to Z, not ranked, and nobody pays to be here. Our editor's own channel is on the list and marked as his.
We opened each show's own pages between October 4 and October 7, 2026, and the numbers on each profile come from the show's public feed on October 7, 2026. To suggest a show, or to correct a detail about one, email hello@eliteaeo.ai.
References
- Google Search Central: AI features and your website
- Edward Sturm: The Edward Show
- The Edward Show on Apple Podcasts
- Search Off the Record: How AI Is Changing Google Search and SEO
- Crawling Mondays by Aleyda
- Fan Out Podcast: An AI Search Show on Spotify
- AI SEO & Business Automation Podcast
- Search with Candour
- Experts On The Wire (An SEO Podcast!) on Apple Podcasts
- The Agency Growth Podcast
- The Agency Growth Podcast on Apple Podcasts
- Evergrow Marketing: Does Schema Markup Affect Rank and AI Recommendations?
- David G Quaid on YouTube
- Hobo Web: Shaun Anderson
- The Edward Show: EEAT Explained: What Google Actually Uses to Judge Trust & Quality
- Primary Position: The Top 50 SEOs in 2026
- Ann Smarty: SEO and Reddit marketing
- The Edward Show: Reddit SEO Is Broken: The Spam Playbook, the Risk to Brands, and What Still Works