The End of the Directory Era
episode
Voices of Search // A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Podcast
34 min
2 speakers
6 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Why do influencers drive 73% of travel bookings but earn nothing?
Sit back, relax, and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom. Here's today's host of the Voices of Search Podcast, Jordan Cooney. Social media
creators aren't just inspiring vacation trips anymore. They're shaping bookings. In fact, 73% of travelers say influencer recommendations have led to a booking decision. Here's the gap. You read an influencer's post, spot the perfect beach in Portugal, screenshot the real, scramble to find the hotel name, and make the perfect booking experience. All of this in the backdrop, a creator just drove a $3,000 vacation, but gets paid nothing. The directory era with endless lists of links and reviews has had its day. Now the question is: how do you turn inspiration into checkout and ensure the creator who influenced the booking gets paid? I'm Jordan Cooney, and joining me today is John Levesque, founder and CEO of Seek, the AI native platform turning saved media into bookable.
itineraries. Today, John will show us why the old model is fading and how experienced networks are redefining discovery and action in an AI-dominated world. John, welcome to the Voiceless Search Podcast. Jordan, thanks so much for having me. Happy to be here. I am thrilled because we get to talk about some unique stuff today, not the normal way of thinking about uh the internet and what's changing in the internet. And really, it's I think the the beauty of our conversation is it's like really human. It's like really about people and what people are creating. So that's what's going to make this super fun and exciting. But before we dive too far into this, give me a little bit about your background. You spent many years building.
communities at great companies like Microsoft and DocuSign before find FoundingSeek. So what made you decide to leave this corporate life and start up a travel startup?
You know, it was funny. I I decided while I was working um that I wanted to create something. Well, it actually started with a decision that I wanted to leave corporate life, which led me to trying to figure out how I do that, which then I decided I wanted to create something because I saw so many folks create things and find their path to independence and wealth. And even cooler than that, like getting to create new things in the world. was exciting. And so I said, this is what I'm going to do. And I set off to discover what problems, you know, that I faced personally, that other people faced with me. And I made a list of about 20 things. And, you know, I found a couple. I started working on them in the evenings.
And uh it's funny, you know, this decision to start Seek happened as I'm going to split time nine to five, five to nine. five to nine was really like five to one, but who's counting, right? Um
Exactly.
And then, you know, along the way, um, tech in twenty twenty five is precarious. Uh, my job got restructured. Mm-hmm. And I had this moment now to decide am I going to go and get another job or am I gonna go full time into seek? And I felt like this moment was the universe telling me something. to go for it. You know, I have savings and I've had a a good life and I wasn't, you know, without means or or without future. And um, and so I decided I'm gonna, I'm gonna risk some of it and I'm gonna try it. And and so that's really where the decision point kind of happened was, you know, a Sparta kick off the cliff a little bit. And as you're flailing, you know, I decided to to kind of control my free fall. a little bit instead of just being subject to it.
And so that's I guess how the transition happened.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:32
2
Why do influencers drive 73% of travel bookings but earn nothing?
0:32–10:39
3
How did Jon Levesque decide to leave corporate life and start Seek?
10:39–17:55
4
What lessons from Microsoft and DocuSign shaped Seek’s platform?
17:55–30:17
5
Why are traditional travel directories like Yelp and TripAdvisor losing relevance?
30:17–33:24
6
How do experience networks differ from classic directory models?
33:24–33:59