Search marketing professional from India, Preeti Gupta, has criticised the use of the word 'guru' in the SEO industry as a derogatory term used to depict someone with naïve followers and someone highly regarded. Gupta argued that the word has a deep meaning and is respected in India. She contrasted this with self-proclaimed SEO gurus who she believes are shady types who engage in unethical SEO practices. Google's John Mueller, another SEO expert, agreed with Gupta and shared his thoughts about self-identifying SEO 'gurus'. Both men and women acknowledged that the meaning of words and their knowledge of SEO changes over time. However, they also acknowledged that no one truly knows what to do to rank better in search engines and AI search.