In this episode of Within WordPress, we sit down with Alex Moss—Manchester-based SEO veteran, agency owner, and Principal SEO at Yoast—to explore how WordPress, SEO, and AI are colliding in real time. We cover idea-making and product risk, why optimism beats doom, and what tools like “OpenClaw” and Grok mean for everyday users versus developers.
You’ll hear practical multi-LLM workflows, how non-technical folks (including parents) are changing research habits, and where Yoast leans on ICPs to guide content. We look ahead to an agent-first web: data integrity, artifacts/markdown, and deeply personalized delivery—plus where WordPress fits.
Along the way: diagnosing an old Mercedes with an LLM, turning kids’ drawings into coloring pages, and speed-building ad‑free PWAs with Claude.
We wrap on authenticity, IRL experiences, jobs, and even AI, ASI, and faith—staying curious and optimistic.
Chapters
- 00:00:00 — Welcome to Within WordPress + meet Alex
- 00:00:28 — Alex’s background: SEO since 1999/2000, WP since 2011/12, agency, Principal SEO at Yoast
- 00:01:33 — What “Principal SEO” means at Yoast: IC role, best practices, product/innovation
- 00:04:13 — OpenClaw skepticism, early-adopter optimism, and picking your battles
- 00:09:00 — Grok Bot vs dev-first tools; making agents usable for everyone; LLM bias/neutrality
- 00:12:20 — Multi‑LLM workflows (Claude, Gemini, etc.), critique loops; parents using Gemini; research is changing
- 00:15:58 — AI-built sites vs WordPress: quality, SEO, accessibility, and client lock‑in
- 00:17:47 — Yoast ICPs, targeting tone/content, and word‑of‑mouth influence
- 00:19:50 — Who’s shifting queries to LLMs? Adoption snippets, Shopify signals, SERPs evolving
- 00:22:26 — The release pace, optimism over doom; IRL experiences and Niagara Falls
- 00:24:32 — Club/curtains analogies: how our senses “adjust” to tech shifts
- 00:26:17 — Creativity and AI: Joseph Gordon‑Levitt, why authentic stories/emotion are hard for LLMs
- 00:28:25 — Overwhelm across generations; authenticity; why events won’t disappear
- 00:31:52 — The Like button’s unintended outcomes; earning authenticity over mediocrity
- 00:33:40 — “AI slop” on LinkedIn; calling out low‑effort AI comments; kids’ AI detection
- 00:36:55 — How kids use AI: car noise diagnosis; prompting with assumptions; creative tooling for music/video
- 00:40:45 — Building ad‑free PWAs with Claude for kids; coloring outlines; UX for simplicity; lessons for work
- 00:47:20 — The web ahead: Cloudflare’s agent‑first push, artifacts, data integrity (OKF/ARD), markdown
- 00:50:09 — Personalized delivery: NLP preferences (charts, fonts, tone); ICP‑aware rendering at the edge
- 00:56:06 — Optimism, Y2K analogy, and testing our way through this shift
- 01:00:22 — From Snake to shipping apps by the pool; build vs buy; Glide, SaaS, and tinkerers
- 01:03:36 — AI, jobs and layoffs; why the “working out in the middle” still matters
- 01:07:21 — No doom: trades still matter; hoping AI tackles real problems; AI/ASI and faith
- 01:11:45 — Please and thank you to the machines; wrap‑up and thanks