Google AI Killed Old SEO : Andrei Builov Reveals What Works Now 🤖

If you’ve been feeling lost in SEO lately, you’re not alone. 🌀

At the summit in Phuket, I sat down with Andrei Builov, an SEO agency owner with more than 23 years in SEO who has lived in Phuket for the last four years, for this episode of Inside A Hustler’s Brain. 🧠

Andrei is very practical. He shared how his team finds easy wins, why old domains still work, and how AI is changing his agency’s workflows. 🔥

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• 🏝️ Why Andrei made Phuket home
• 🔄 23 years of SEO changes
• 🎯 How he finds low-hanging fruit in the SERPs
• 🌐 Why expired domains and EMDs still work
• 💼 Why SEO beats ads for lead generation
• 🤫 When SEOs share their real tactics
• 🤖 Andrei’s AI tool stack and hybrid workflows
• 📚 His advice for new SEOs

🎥 Watch the full episode:

🏝️ Why Andrei Made Phuket Home

Andrei and his family were traveling and looking for a place to stay longer than a few months. They’d visited Phuket about five years earlier, so they came back for three months, then three more, then three more. “Okay, we want to live there longer.” 🌴

That was four years ago, “and maybe four years more.” He loves that the summit brings so many experts to the island where he lives. 🏝️

🔄 23 Years of SEO Changes

After more than 23 years, Andrei has seen technology change many times: keywords, then backlinks, then keywords again in a different style, then less spammy backlinks, plus CTR manipulation and PBN networks. 🔁

Now it’s SEO with AI. His team uses AI for classic SEO tasks, and uses their SEO knowledge and experience to optimize for AI search too. 🤖

For more on how AI is reshaping SEO, read Anil Agarwal’s survival plan. 🔗

🎯 How He Finds Low-Hanging Fruit in the SERPs

Andrei’s method is based on deep analytics to find low-hanging fruit in every part of SEO. 🍎

• 🔍 Analyze keyword lists, not just collect them: look for SERPs with weak competitors that entered the top 10 only a few months ago
• 📋 Queue those keywords to optimize pages or sites
• 🗂️ Group keywords based on analysis of the search results
• 🔗 Use PBNs, because outreach is too expensive and slow
• 🌐 Use exact-match domains and expired or dropped domains

They have about 30 methods and typically combine around 10 per project. “We have something like a superpower, and our competitors can’t compete with us.” 💪

🌐 Why Expired Domains and EMDs Still Work

Do expired domains and EMDs still work in 2026? “Sure.” Google trusts websites based on signals. If you try to build those signals artificially on a brand-new domain, Google will usually find out and penalize you. ⚠️

Expired domains already have years of signals. You need to analyze them carefully, act in a low-risk way, and use extra technology so Google doesn’t detect manipulation. “It’s the only place where we take risk.” That’s why he expects this approach to keep working for years. 🏛️

For more on this tactic, read Kalin Karakehayov on buying expired SEO domains. 🔗

💼 Why SEO Beats Ads for Lead Generation

Andrei uses SEO for lead generation as a business model. Why SEO? Because you can choose the keywords and get “the hottest clients.” 🔥

Google Ads also lets you choose keywords, but it’s “many times more expensive than SEO.” Both let you target the final step, when someone asks where they can buy something. 🛒

Other channels, like social media, catch people earlier, when they may not even know they have a problem, and it takes much longer before they’re ready to buy. ⏳

🤫 When SEOs Share Their Real Tactics

Why do some speakers seem secretive? Andrei is open about his process. His company runs tons of tests every month. When they find a new technique that works, they use it for clients and their own sites first. 🧪

After three to six months, he shares it with his paid club of SEO specialists and agency owners. Only after about 9–12 months does he share it at conferences and on Facebook or Telegram. They spend a lot of money finding what works, so they need to earn it back first. 💰

So when good speakers share something, it usually still works, but it’s been working for 9–12 months already. Sometimes, what gets shared publicly is old and no longer works. 🗓️

🤖 Andrei’s AI Tool Stack and Hybrid Workflows

His favourite AI tool depends on the task:

• 📊 Presentations: Google Slides with Gemini built in, plus Nano Banana to redesign plain slides, which he says did an excellent job
• 📣 Facebook ads creatives: Nano Banana, adapting ads from the Facebook Ads Library to other products
• 💬 Everyday questions: Gemini and ChatGPT
• 💻 Coding: Claude Code inside the Claude app, and sometimes Cursor with the Claude API

AI has changed his company’s workflows a lot, mostly in a hybrid way: AI does the first step and a human checks and approves, or the reverse when humans do the first step better. They also experiment with orchestrators and agents reviewing each other, but it works better with humans involved. He expects to remove humans from many processes by the end of the year. ⚙️

For another agency’s AI approach, read Adam Chronister on SEO agency success in the AI era. 🧠

📚 Andrei’s Advice for New SEOs

His advice for anyone starting out:

• 🧪 Test a lot
• 🤖 Use AI in every step
• 📖 Study every day
• 👥 Follow people you trust who share SEO knowledge, and try what they say works in your own workflow

📝 Key Takeaways From the Andrei Builov Interview

• 🎯 Target SERPs where weak competitors recently entered the top 10
• 🧰 Combine many methods at once instead of relying on one
• 🌐 Expired domains carry years of trust signals, so use them carefully
• 💼 SEO can capture the hottest leads at a fraction of ad costs
• 🤫 Public tactics are often 9–12 months old by the time they’re shared
• 🤖 Hybrid human + AI workflows work best for now
• 🧪 Test constantly and learn every day

❓ FAQs About Andrei Builov

Who is Andrei Builov?

Andrei Builov is an SEO agency owner with more than 23 years of SEO experience. He has lived in Phuket for the last four years.

Do expired domains still work for SEO?

Andrei says yes. They already carry years of trust signals, but you must analyze them carefully and act in a low-risk way to avoid penalties.

Why is SEO good for lead generation?

You can target bottom-of-funnel keywords from people ready to buy, at a much lower cost than Google Ads.

What AI tools does Andrei Builov use?

Gemini in Google Slides, Nano Banana for slides and ad creatives, Gemini and ChatGPT for everyday questions, and Claude Code or Cursor for coding.

🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love

• Interview with Kalin Karakehayov from SEO.domains: Make 6 Figures with Aged Domains 🔥
• Kyle Roof SEO Strategies, AI Tests & How To Rank #1 in Google 🚀
• How Charles Floate Making 7 Figures With Affiliate Marketing (Parasite SEO Explained)
• 14 Best SEO Podcasts to Follow in 2026

If Andrei’s practical approach helped you, share this with an SEO friend who loves testing. 💬

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