Businesses face unprecedented challenges and opportunities as artificial intelligence continues to transform search engine optimization. To gain insights into this dynamic intersection, PRFire News editor Evelyn Harper sat down with Brian Winum, Digital Marketing Director and co-founder of MAXPlaces Marketing, a leading digital marketing agency based in Farmingdale, NY.
With over a decade of experience helping businesses navigate the complexities of digital marketing, Winum's agency has developed innovative approaches to SEO that integrate AI capabilities. In this in-depth conversation, he shares his perspectives on how AI is reshaping SEO strategies in 2025 and introduces MAXPlaces' proprietary S.T.A.R. framework that's helping clients thrive in this new era.
HARPER: Thank you for joining us today, Brian. The digital marketing landscape seems to be evolving faster than ever with AI at the forefront. How would you characterize the state of SEO in 2025?
WINUM: Thank you for having me, Evelyn. You're absolutely right that we're experiencing unprecedented change. What we're seeing in 2025 is no longer just an evolution but a complete transformation of how search engines understand and prioritize content. Traditional SEO practices focused primarily on keywords and backlinks are now just table stakes. The real competitive edge comes from understanding how AI-driven search systems process information and identify value.
The most significant shift is that search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated at determining user intent and matching it with genuinely helpful content. This means businesses need to move beyond simply optimizing for algorithms and focus on creating comprehensive digital experiences that address the full spectrum of user needs.
HARPER: In your client proposals, you frequently mention “white-hat SEO techniques.” Has AI changed what constitutes ethical SEO practices?
WINUM: That's an excellent question. White-hat SEO has always been about following search engine guidelines and prioritizing user experience. What's changed is the sophistication with which search engines can identify manipulative tactics. AI systems are now incredibly adept at recognizing patterns that indicate attempts to game the system.
At MAXPlaces, we've doubled down on ethical practices because they're not just right—they're what works. Our approach centers on E-E-A-T principles—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. With AI systems now able to evaluate content quality at near-human levels, businesses that invest in genuine expertise and valuable content are seeing the greatest returns.
HARPER: Your agency has developed something called the “S.T.A.R. framework.” Could you explain what this is and how it addresses the challenges of AI-driven search?
WINUM: The S.T.A.R. framework represents our comprehensive methodology for digital success in the AI era. It stands for Strategic planning, Technical SEO, Authority building, and Results-driven optimization. We developed this approach specifically to bridge the gap between traditional SEO practices and the demands of AI-powered search engines.
Strategic planning involves deep analysis of search intent, developing topic clusters, and mapping entity relationships—essentially creating a content ecosystem that AI systems can easily understand and categorize. Technical SEO focuses on implementing AI-ready elements like semantic HTML structure and comprehensive schema markup that helps search engines understand your content's context and relationships.
Authority building has evolved significantly with AI. It's no longer just about acquiring backlinks—it's about establishing genuine expertise and recognition within your industry through digital PR, expert content development, and strategic partnerships. Finally, results measurement involves tracking not just rankings and traffic, but specifically monitoring how AI systems interact with your content and measuring performance against business objectives.
This framework ensures businesses are not just reacting to AI developments but strategically positioning themselves to benefit from them.
HARPER: In your work with clients, you often identify what you call an “authority deficiency.” How has AI changed the way authority is established and measured online?
WINUM: Authority in the AI era has become multi-dimensional. Traditional metrics like domain authority and backlink profiles remain important, but they've been augmented by more sophisticated indicators that AI can evaluate.
We often see businesses with domain authority scores under 20/100 and fewer than 300 referring domains, which is insufficient in competitive environments. But beyond these quantitative measures, AI systems are now evaluating qualitative aspects like the relevance of linking sites, the context in which links appear, and patterns of brand mentions across the web.
We're also seeing AI systems giving more weight to entity relationships—how your brand connects to recognized experts, organizations, and concepts in your industry. This is why our authority-building approach includes strategic elements like expert content development, professional credential verification, and community building initiatives that create rich signals AI can recognize.
What's particularly interesting is how AI is increasingly able to identify manufactured authority versus organic authority. This means businesses need authentic strategies rather than superficial tactics.
HARPER: Let's talk about content strategy. How has AI changed the approach to content development for SEO?
WINUM: Content strategy has undergone a radical transformation. AI-powered search engines now understand topical relationships and can evaluate content comprehensiveness in ways that were impossible just a few years ago.
Our approach now centers on developing what we call “AI-ready content”—content that's structured to be fully understood by both humans and machines. This includes elements like featured snippet targeting, answer block formatting, and knowledge panel optimization. We're essentially preparing content to be processed and presented by AI systems in multiple formats.
One major shift is moving from keyword-focused content to topic authority development. Rather than creating individual pages targeting specific keywords, we develop comprehensive content ecosystems that establish expertise on entire topics. This includes mapping out entity relationships and developing content hierarchies that AI systems can easily process.
Equally important is integrating E-E-A-T signals throughout content. This means clearly communicating author expertise, citing credible sources, maintaining factual accuracy, and ensuring content fulfills its promise to the user. These are all factors that advanced AI can evaluate with increasing sophistication.
HARPER: There's been significant concern about AI potentially making SEO professionals obsolete. What's your perspective on that?
WINUM: I understand the concern, but I see AI as transforming our role rather than eliminating it. SEO professionals who view their value as executing technical tasks or following formulaic approaches will indeed struggle. But those who position themselves as strategic advisors who can harness AI capabilities will thrive.
At MAXPlaces, we've embraced AI as a powerful tool that allows us to deliver more value. For instance, AI helps us analyze vast amounts of data to identify strategic opportunities, automate technical implementations, and generate insights that would have been impossible to discover manually.
What remains irreplaceable is the strategic thinking that connects technical SEO implementation to business objectives, the creativity needed to develop compelling content approaches, and the human understanding of market dynamics and user psychology. These are areas where experienced SEO professionals add tremendous value.
The most successful digital marketers in 2025 are those who have developed a collaborative relationship with AI—using it to enhance their capabilities rather than viewing it as a competitor.
HARPER: Your proposals emphasize the importance of schema markup and structured data. Why has this become so critical in the AI era?
WINUM: Schema markup and structured data have become absolutely fundamental because they effectively serve as a translation layer between your content and AI systems. They provide explicit context that helps AI understand the relationships, entities, and attributes within your content.
For instance, when we implement schema for manufacturing or B2B clients, we're not just helping Google understand they're a business—we're communicating detailed information about their services, locations, relationships with other entities, and specific attributes of their offerings. This creates a rich web of context that AI systems can use to properly position their content in relevant searches.
What's particularly important is that structured data helps AI understand entities and relationships in your content that might otherwise be ambiguous. By explicitly defining these elements, you're essentially providing AI with a roadmap to interpret your content correctly.
As search becomes increasingly conversational and context-dependent, having this structured understanding becomes even more critical for ensuring your content appears in the right contexts.
HARPER: You mention in your framework something called “AI Crawl Optimization.” What exactly does this involve?
WINUM: AI Crawl Optimization represents our approach to ensuring content is fully accessible and comprehensible to AI systems during the crawling and indexing process. This goes beyond traditional technical SEO to focus specifically on elements that affect how AI processes and understands content.
It includes implementing semantic HTML structure that clearly communicates content hierarchy and relationships, ensuring clean code architecture that allows AI to efficiently process page elements, and strategically prioritizing resources to guide AI toward the most important content.
We're also focusing heavily on performance optimization because AI systems increasingly factor user experience signals into their evaluation. This includes optimizing Core Web Vitals and ensuring all content is accessible across devices.
What's fascinating is how AI crawlers are becoming more selective about what they index deeply. They're making judgment calls about which content deserves thorough analysis. Our optimization approach aims to send clear signals that your content warrants this deeper attention.
HARPER: Many businesses are struggling to measure the impact of their SEO efforts in this new landscape. How has your approach to analytics and measurement evolved?
WINUM: The measurement landscape has indeed become more complex, but also more enlightening. Traditional metrics like rankings, traffic, and conversions remain important, but we've expanded our measurement approach to include AI-specific indicators.
For instance, we now track AI interaction metrics like feature presence in search results, inclusion in AI-generated answers, and knowledge panel appearances. We analyze crawl behavior patterns to understand how AI systems are processing client content and make adjustments accordingly.
We've also developed more sophisticated attribution models that account for the increasingly non-linear customer journeys in the AI era. As search becomes more conversational and multi-modal, the path from search to conversion has become more complex.
Ultimately, what matters is connecting these technical metrics to business outcomes. In our monthly reporting for clients, we focus on translating improvements in technical metrics to tangible business impacts like lead generation, revenue growth, and market share expansion.
HARPER: Let's talk about the future. What emerging trends do you see shaping the intersection of AI and SEO over the next few years?
WINUM: We're entering an incredibly dynamic period. One major trend is the growing importance of multimodal search—the ability to search using combinations of text, voice, images, and even video. This is pushing us to think about optimization beyond traditional text content to ensure all forms of media are properly contextualized for AI understanding.
Another significant development is the deepening integration of search with everyday applications and devices. Search is no longer just something that happens on a search engine—it's embedded in productivity tools, messaging platforms, and smart devices. This means businesses need to think about their search presence across a much broader ecosystem.
We're also seeing AI becoming increasingly sophisticated at evaluating subtle quality signals that were previously difficult to measure, like information accuracy, argumentative coherence, and practical utility. This is raising the quality bar for all content.
Perhaps most importantly, we're witnessing the emergence of truly personalized search experiences, where AI systems are delivering dramatically different results based on user context, history, and inferred preferences. This is pushing us to think about optimization not for a single algorithm but for diverse AI-driven experiences.
For businesses, the key will be maintaining the agility to adapt to these rapid changes while staying grounded in the fundamental principles of creating genuine value for users.
HARPER: Based on your experience, what advice would you give to businesses trying to navigate this complex landscape?
WINUM: My first piece of advice is to focus on building genuine expertise and value rather than chasing algorithm updates. AI systems are increasingly rewarding authentic authority and penalizing manufactured signals.
Second, invest in understanding your audience deeply. AI is getting better at matching user intent with relevant content, but this only benefits you if you truly understand what your audience needs and how they're searching.
Third, embrace a comprehensive approach. The days of treating SEO as a standalone tactic are over. Successful businesses are integrating SEO with content strategy, user experience design, technical development, and broader marketing initiatives.
Fourth, prioritize technical excellence. With AI systems becoming more sophisticated in how they process websites, technical optimization is no longer optional—it's essential for ensuring your content is fully understood.
Finally, I'd recommend working with partners who understand both the technical aspects of AI-ready SEO and the strategic business implications. The most successful implementations we've seen come from teams that can bridge this technical-strategic divide.
HARPER: You've given our readers a lot to think about. Any final thoughts on where this all leads?
WINUM: What excites me most about this new era is that it's ultimately driving businesses toward practices that create better experiences for users. AI is increasingly able to identify and reward content that genuinely helps people, which means the incentives are aligning around creating real value.
Yes, the technical complexity has increased, and businesses need to be more sophisticated in their approach. But the fundamental goal remains connecting people with the information, products, and services they need. Businesses that keep this human element at the center of their strategy will find success, even as the technological landscape continues to evolve.
The future belongs to businesses that can navigate the technical requirements of AI while staying focused on the human connections that drive meaningful engagement.
HARPER: Brian, thank you for sharing these valuable insights with our readers.
WINUM: It's been my pleasure, Evelyn. Thank you for the thoughtful conversation.
Brian Winum is the Digital Marketing Director and co-founder of MAXPlaces Marketing, a digital marketing agency specializing in AI-ready SEO strategies and comprehensive digital growth solutions. For more information about their S.T.A.R. framework and services, visit their website or contact them directly.
