Episode Description
Don't be a Blockbuster in a Netflix world. That's the warning from a man who sat inside Google watching search get built. In this episode of AI Made Simple, Carmen Skipworth sits down with David Esau — founder and CEO of Click Track Marketing, the San Diego AI-first agency serving over 500 clients — who went from sweeping his grandfather's door and window shop to running one of the earliest answer engine optimization practices in the country. David gives away his entire tech stack on air, explains why 60% of searches never end in a click, and shows what happened when a brand new client site picked up ten ChatGPT citations in seven days. Plus Pixel, the AI agent he's building for every client, and the ad his own AI told him to kill that turned out to have the best return on spend. Human-Led. AI-Powered.
HOST
Carmen Skipworth
GUEST
David Esau — founder and CEO of Click Track Marketing, a San Diego based AI-first digital marketing agency serving over 500 clients. A former Google account manager who helped take Local Services by Google from zero to 100 million, then worked with partners including Square, Intuit and Helium 10. An early pioneer of answer engine optimization. Author of Raising the Digital Bar, with The Future of AI Search due for release and a third book, Find Your Customers, in development.
SUMMARY
David tells Carmen how a family door and window company founded in 1954 became a marketing education: sweeping the shop, then ranking the business number one for door shop in San Diego before anyone called it SEO. Drumming in Jack's Broken Heart and The Little Ones taught him promotion through Napster and MP3.com. Google taught him the numbers. Now he builds for answer engines instead of search engines — Next.js and React, schemas, llms.txt, 155 custom fields, Supabase and BigQuery behind the reporting. He explains why he takes clients off WordPress, Squarespace and Wix, and what an agent actually is next to a chatbot. His warning on trust lands hardest: his own AI told him to kill the ad that had closed his biggest deal.
MAIN TOPICS
From the family door shop to number one in San Diego
Napster, MP3.com and marketing an indie band
What answer engine optimization actually is
Inside Google: Local Services from zero to 100 million
Rebuilding a site for AI search: schemas, llms.txt, custom fields
Ten ChatGPT citations in seven days
Pixel: an AI agent for every client
Don't trust it 100%: the ad his AI got wrong
INTRIGUING QUOTES
"Don't be a Blockbuster in a Netflix world." — David Esau
"Answer engine optimization is where you want your business to be the answer." — David Esau
"Don't trust it 100%. That's my advice. Always check." — David Esau
"No one warned me how hard it would be." — David Esau
KEY MOMENTS
[01:09] Meet David Esau: Google, Click Track Marketing, 500 clients
[02:50] Napster, MP3.com and marketing the band
[04:25] What answer engine optimization actually is
[05:57] Inside Google: Local Services from zero to 100 million
[10:26] Rebuilding your site for AI search
[12:20] The full stack, given away
[14:44] Ten ChatGPT citations in seven days
[15:08] Don't be a Blockbuster in a Netflix world
[16:55] The Future of AI Search and the one word he might change
[20:34] Pixel: an AI agent for every client
[21:12] Chatbot vs agent, explained
[28:25] How to connect with David
NOTABLE RESOURCES
ChatGPT
Claude and Claude Code
Perplexity
Grok and Gemini
Manus
Next.js and React
Semrush
DataForSEO
HighLevel
Supabase
Firecrawl
Instantly
Raising the Digital Bar by David Esau
The Future of AI Search by David Esau
Find Your Customers by David Esau
Click Track Marketing — clicktrackmarketing.com
CONNECT
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1FXihmKLqS/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61590720415359
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leadwithcarmen/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeadwithCarmen
Apply to be a guest on AI Made Simple: https://www.latpn.com/ai-made-simple-podcast-booking
