LLMs, SEO & the Future of Voice Commerce

Hi All! After a bunch of requests, I am launching a newsletter to capture the heart of conversations I am having weekly with the top digital minds in the industry doing the coolest new things either on The Digital Deep Dive Podcast or the webinars which I have started posting on our YouTube channel Next Up In Digital. While I encourage you to subscribe and listen so you can get the entire context, I also realize we are all way too busy and a brief summary is sometimes all we have time for!

That being said, this is my first one so some grace would be awesome for mistakes, but I'll improve for sure along the way!

In this first ever newsletter issue, I spoke with Max Sinclair Sinclair, Founder & CEO of Azoma (formerly Ecomtent) and former Amazon leader, about the seismic shift from traditional keyword-based search to conversational AI-driven discovery on platforms like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Amazon Rufus.

LLM's, SEO, and the Future of Voice Commerce With Max Sinclair

Key Takeaways

• AI is rapidly replacing traditional product search.

• Content must be semantically rich and persona-driven. Create “mini digital twins” of AI models with content tailored to individual customer intents.

• Multimodal signals matter. Visual assets and human sentiment (reviews, UGC) boost ranking in AI-driven searches.

• Early voice/AI commerce is a major opportunity. Brands integrating ChatGPT‑Shopify or Rufus will likely dominate early discovery.

My Moderator’s Perspective

AI’s disruption of search is real, and it's happening faster than most of us want it to. It was interesting to see how Max systematically reframes traditional SEO into a generative-first strategy. It’s not about tweaking keywords anymore it’s about crafting full narratives around buyer intent, use cases, and context. Brands that treat AI as a channel (not just a trend) will reap the early rewards often associated with Google keyword stuffing in the early 2000's or AMS campaigns on Amazon in the early 2010's. We'll have tons more events to cover this same topic over the coming months I'm sure.

Want to Listen?

If you're thinking about how to stay ahead in SEO or prepare for voice commerce, this conversation is a must-listen. --> LLM's, SEO, and the Future of Voice Commerce With Max Sinclair - BWG Connect or via your favorite podcast platform.

Action Steps for Your Team

1. Audit AI-readiness: Are your product listings optimized with semantic depth and persona-targeted messaging?

2. Invest in multimodal content: High-quality images, videos, and sentiment-rich elements support AI visibility.

3. Pilot conversational commerce integrations: Take a look at what a ChatGPT‑Shopify or Perplexity-Firmly stack might look like or Rufus advancements in using product description to answer customer question, or anything really right now. :) Just start experimenting!.

4. Monitor AI voice market share: Tools like Rufus already influence 14%+ of searches—are you tracking your visibility?

Coming Up

I talk with Scott Needham from SmartScout on the current state of tariffs and pricing on Amazon!