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The Angry Ops Guy Podcast
The Angry Ops Guy Podcast

Episode 19: Heidi Schwende - Standards in a Noisy Market (Part 1)

21 February 2026 57:58 Mike Gualtieri

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About this episode

Heidi Schwende joins The Angry Ops Guy Podcast for a reflective conversation about what this year has actually felt like inside an agency. She’s a good friend and a strategic partner, so this one goes beyond surface-level industry talk.

We dig into the trust gap in the market, how many business owners show up already burned, and why chasing volume is a losing game. Heidi shares how she’s built her agency around long-term partnerships instead of quick wins, leaning into trusted specialists inside the WSI network and refusing to compromise on quality just to close a deal. There’s some venting, some laughs, and a few honest swings at the parts of this industry that deserve it.

Then we get into what’s quietly stressing everyone out: AI search, declining traffic, LLM visibility, and what happens when the machines start remembering what you publish. We’re not just optimizing anymore, we’re teaching. Foundations still matter, and when shortcuts replace substance, the market corrects it. If you run an agency or depend on one, this is the kind of conversation you have when you’re tired of pretending everything is fine and you still care enough to fix it.

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