May 7, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode of Accelerated Velocity, we explore how AI is shaping the landscape of search and SEO. To be clear: SEO isn’t dead, it’s just evolving. Google still dominates web searches, but new discovery surfaces, including search-integrated LLMs like ChatGPT, present new opportunities for brand visibility. As always–high-quality, informative content is still key to nailing SEO. But the conversation also delves into new, AI-driven strategies for improving search visibility, including insights from Peter’s AI-powered SEO workshop at NAMM 2025.
Chapters
00:00 - Welcome & introduction
01:32 - Evolving Landscape of SEO and AI
03:30 - Understanding Search Behavior and Statistics
06:44 - The Impact of AI on Search Discoverability
09:59 - Strategies for Improving Search Visibility
13:04 - Conclusion & Wrap-Up
Sources
“OpenAI's Strategy to Make ChatGPT an All-Purpose App” on AI Secret
“AI Overview Study for 8,000 Keywords in Google Search” by Philip Petrescu for Advanced Web Ranking”
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:24):
Cool has been writing the rules for a long, long time.
Welcome to Accelerated Velocity, the podcast that helps you move faster, smarter, and more strategically in the rapidly evolving world of AI. We'll break down the latest AI news and innovations and explore how they impact your marketing, sales, and business growth. We'll dive into the practical use cases, unpack new tools, and cut through the noise so you and your team can adopt with confidence.
(01:02):
I'm Grace Matthews, director of content at inbound TV, a business development agency and HubSpot solutions partner dedicated to driving sustainable business growth. Each week, I'll be here with Peter Malik, our CEO and founder. Join us as we make sense of what's changing and what to do about it.
Hello. Welcome back to Accelerated Velocity, the podcast where we break down the latest in AI in relation to business development strategy. This is Grace and I'm here with Peter. How are you doing today, Peter? I am doing just fine. It's a beautiful day in Southern California. I'm a little bit more south than you, and I have to say, it's kind of gloomy down here, but the weekend is projected to have some sun, so that's good.
(01:49):
It's a face. All right. So a quick overview of today. We're revisiting a topic that's evolving fast, which is the changing landscape of search and SEO and how it's impacted by AI. We've touched on this lightly a couple of times before on the podcast. But Peter I know that this is a topic you've covered extensively, and you actually gave a workshop at the music industry event Nam at the beginning of this year, correct?
(02:16):
Yeah, I did, and you know, it's interesting because I was in a meeting that I attend every the first Friday of every month this morning. Way too early this morning, I will add. But in that meeting I met somebody who I had never met before. We were talking. He was an attorney and we were talking and he asked me what what I did, and I told him, we have business development focused marketing agency.
(02:40):
And he said, like, you mean you do SEO? And my knee jerk reaction was, no, that's not what we do. That's not our specialty. But in this new dynamic where I search is taking over in a lot of ways from traditional search, it's really not the right answer for me to give. This is something that we've really been fascinated about for a while, and it's definitely changed the landscape.
(03:06):
As far as search results go. And that's why I'm happy to dig into this. This absolutely. I think it's really important that you brought that up, too, because you aren't an SEO focused agency like some agencies are 100% dedicated to SEO strategy. But this is a huge part of business development right now. And I don't know if you've heard the phrase SEO is dead circling around.
(03:30):
Yeah, I've definitely been hearing it. But just to be clear, SEO is not dead. Google search is still very much a part of this discussion, although I do think that the landscape is shifting a little bit, especially with tools like ChatGPT introducing more searchable conversational options and features within the platform. Yeah, I you know, I think that the term search is dead refers to changes that are happening within search.
(03:59):
And the fact that I search is taking over in a lot of ways. In some sense that's true. And in some sense it hasn't really happened yet, because the AI search is really are still dwarfed by traditional Google searches. Now, you have to add in the fact that a lot of the traditional Google searches are providing AI results.
(04:21):
So it's kind of a mixed bag right now. It's, you know, to actually figure out a stat of which searches are AI and which searches are Google, I think is very, very difficult because a lot of them, at least on the Google end, are blended. But at the same time, we know throughout history to claim that 99.5% of the searches are still being done traditionally on Google does not mean anything about the future.
(04:50):
It doesn't mean that search isn't dead in the traditional sense, but we just don't know it yet. I think it's really important that you brought that up. And according to the data, Google's still dominant. But trends do show that there is, somewhat slow decline in terms of Google's dominance over web based searches. Yeah, I think that really the big change is going to come when there's a killer app.
(05:19):
I mean, Go Chrome as a web browser is a killer app. And I know that, like, I think it's clogged. That is starting to offer e-commerce functionality as a service. And so I believe that ChatGPT and and other players may in fact build their own app that acts like a web browser and makes the experience of searching through check shipped a lot more.
(05:45):
So a lot more transparent, a lot easier. And that could be that could be the tipping point. Yeah. And we're seeing a lot of different apps already kind of positioning themselves to become discovery surfaces already. We're seeing that on social media with TikTok shop and Instagram Shop also with some of ChatGPT is recent updates in terms of the shopping experience on there.
(06:09):
So people are using tools like ChatGPT, tools like social media to explore and discover brands to find new tools and services and recommendations. The current statistics that we have on the different search engines that users are turning to does not necessarily reflect the use of ChatGPT or other discovery services, so I think that's important to note. So, Peter, we had also explored before ChatGPT is recent all time memory update, which plays into its search functionalities as well.
(06:49):
So it can now take the memory that it has on your conversations with it and apply that to searches that you might be making to make the results more relevant to you. Could you give a couple examples of how that impacts the search experience on ChatGPT? Well, I think that what's at play here is that a lot of the top content in Google search results was optimized for search, and it's not that it's bad content.
(07:17):
A lot of it is very, very good. But I think that ChatGPT and other like ums may be treating that particular dynamic on its head so that it's looking for what they feel is the most relevant and most informative data that is out there, or content that's out there. Because if ChatGPT is looking at what would have been page 12 and up, which is stuff that would never see the light of day in a traditional Google search, then they're looking for something more than, an SEO optimized page, which of course they are.
(07:58):
They're just looking for the best results. So it makes sense be something that's going to bring the quality of search way up and, and this is a little bit speculative, but that could be again, that could be a tipping point. That's a really huge point. And I think it points to the idea that discoverability for brands is changing, even if the analytics haven't necessarily caught up yet.
(08:25):
This is a huge opportune affinity for brands to leverage high quality, informative content that might not necessarily be ranking on page one of Google, but it is really relevant to certain people who are looking for maybe more specific or narrow down solutions at the point in the search cycle that they're in. Yeah, no, I think that's a great point.
(08:49):
And also thinking about this, even as on a larger macro level, Google has been writing the rules for a long, long time. You know, they build the analytics app, they build the the ads app, paid ads app, they build, build all sorts of tracking data for your site. And it almost can't be that this is just neutral data.
(09:12):
Everything is focused in some way towards selling ads, because that's how Google has made its billions and trillions of dollars and continues to make it so. In a way, this could be a means of democratization, where Google isn't selling all the ads and writing the rules about the ads. So I think there's a lot to really keep your eye on.
(09:39):
Obviously, ChatGPT wants to make ad dollars. Anthropic wants to every, every IL OEM wants to make ad dollars, and they just haven't really figured out a way to make it happen. I believe, and I'm sure they believe that way is out there. So it's it's going to be it's going to be interesting at times in just so many ways and on so many levels.
(10:01):
So let's say you're speaking with a client or colleague who wants to improve their search visibility holistically. So not neglecting Google search and traditional SEO, but to start thinking about SEO with ChatGPT and other similar AI models. What would be the first steps in your opinion? I really think it's to think about the questions that your ideal customer profile, your ISP is asking that would lead them to your business.
(10:32):
So it'd be a specific question about the business or the product you sell, the service you sell, whatever it is. You know, what would be the most likely thing for them to be asking you about? And all all of that data is available, by the way, too. So I think that's the starting place. And then once you know that, I think that a really productive way to view content creation is that you're answering those questions in a very informative, non salesy way.
(11:03):
As as always, that hasn't changed, but you're answering the questions that people are asking rather than just putting in. I need an accountant in and Sausalito, California, which by the way out in Sausalito is probably pretty darn expensive. I think this is great. I think we've covered a lot on some of what's not changing in terms of, you know, sticking to high quality, authoritative content, but also some new opportunities that are arising.
(11:32):
Coming back to I know I mentioned at the beginning that you gave a talk on AI powered SEO earlier in the year. Could you give like a tldr on what you covered at Nam in January and what's changed in AI driven search since then, or what's changed? And maybe some of the advice that you would give today. So the presentation that Nam came from us trying to as a company, trying to reverse engineer AI search, in other words, we put we didn't put a question that we did on Google search.
(12:09):
And the question might just be about a business. What's the best place for me to buy hamburgers in Botswana? And the results are those varied widely between Google search at that time. It's like, this is like like four months ago, not even four months ago. And today, which it seems like an eternity, but based on, you know, what's happened in the last three and a half, four months.
(12:35):
But that's what we were trying to do. And we really found gaps for a lot of businesses that they were coming up like number one on Google search, and they weren't coming up at all on a search. So that's what we were saying then. I think that there's been a little more alignment since then, but it's really too soon to tell.
(13:00):
And I think that paying attention to why a particular business, if you're trying to get visibility for your business and you maybe have it on traditional search, and then you do a charity search or another, all of them and you're not visible, I'd really think about why the companies that are visible are visible and really sort of create a strategy based on what you find.
(13:24):
You know, what craze. I think that this is a great place to stop because we don't want to provide information overload. We want we want to really have something that people can digest and think about and also respond to us, tell us where absolutely we're on, if that's their opinion. But nevertheless, I think we've covered a lot of ground.
I totally agree, and I think there's a lot to crack open on different subtopics of this. So it's something that we can bookmark and come back to for later. Awesome. And so as always, please leave us a review, five star review if possible. But you know, leave us a review anyway, we we want to hear from you.
(14:03):
We want to get an idea of, what how you feel the quality of this podcast is. And, and you can always visit us at inbound avi alias in accelerate velocity.com and learn about what we do. And we're always happy to even have a conversation. We don't need to sell you anything. We're happy to have a conversation.
(14:27):
Absolutely. And if you liked what you heard, subscribe to our newsletter for weekly insights and at the Soon Recaps we'll link that in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you soon. Bye.
Cool has been writing the rules for a long, long time.
Welcome to Accelerated Velocity, the podcast that helps you move faster, smarter, and more strategically in the rapidly evolving world of AI. We'll break down the latest AI news and innovations and explore how they impact your marketing, sales, and business growth. We'll dive into the practical use cases, unpack new tools, and cut through the noise so you and your team can adopt with confidence.
(01:02):
I'm Grace Matthews, director of content at inbound TV, a business development agency and HubSpot solutions partner dedicated to driving sustainable business growth. Each week, I'll be here with Peter Malik, our CEO and founder. Join us as we make sense of what's changing and what to do about it.
Hello. Welcome back to Accelerated Velocity, the podcast where we break down the latest in AI in relation to business development strategy. This is Grace and I'm here with Peter. How are you doing today, Peter? I am doing just fine. It's a beautiful day in Southern California. I'm a little bit more south than you, and I have to say, it's kind of gloomy down here, but the weekend is projected to have some sun, so that's good.
(01:49):
It's a face. All right. So a quick overview of today. We're revisiting a topic that's evolving fast, which is the changing landscape of search and SEO and how it's impacted by AI. We've touched on this lightly a couple of times before on the podcast. But Peter I know that this is a topic you've covered extensively, and you actually gave a workshop at the music industry event Nam at the beginning of this year, correct?
(02:16):
Yeah, I did, and you know, it's interesting because I was in a meeting that I attend every the first Friday of every month this morning. Way too early this morning, I will add. But in that meeting I met somebody who I had never met before. We were talking. He was an attorney and we were talking and he asked me what what I did, and I told him, we have business development focused marketing agency.
(02:40):
And he said, like, you mean you do SEO? And my knee jerk reaction was, no, that's not what we do. That's not our specialty. But in this new dynamic where I search is taking over in a lot of ways from traditional search, it's really not the right answer for me to give. This is something that we've really been fascinated about for a while, and it's definitely changed the landscape.
(03:06):
As far as search results go. And that's why I'm happy to dig into this. This absolutely. I think it's really important that you brought that up, too, because you aren't an SEO focused agency like some agencies are 100% dedicated to SEO strategy. But this is a huge part of business development right now. And I don't know if you've heard the phrase SEO is dead circling around.
(03:30):
Yeah, I've definitely been hearing it. But just to be clear, SEO is not dead. Google search is still very much a part of this discussion, although I do think that the landscape is shifting a little bit, especially with tools like ChatGPT introducing more searchable conversational options and features within the platform. Yeah, I you know, I think that the term search is dead refers to changes that are happening within search.
(03:59):
And the fact that I search is taking over in a lot of ways. In some sense that's true. And in some sense it hasn't really happened yet, because the AI search is really are still dwarfed by traditional Google searches. Now, you have to add in the fact that a lot of the traditional Google searches are providing AI results.
(04:21):
So it's kind of a mixed bag right now. It's, you know, to actually figure out a stat of which searches are AI and which searches are Google, I think is very, very difficult because a lot of them, at least on the Google end, are blended. But at the same time, we know throughout history to claim that 99.5% of the searches are still being done traditionally on Google does not mean anything about the future.
(04:50):
It doesn't mean that search isn't dead in the traditional sense, but we just don't know it yet. I think it's really important that you brought that up. And according to the data, Google's still dominant. But trends do show that there is, somewhat slow decline in terms of Google's dominance over web based searches. Yeah, I think that really the big change is going to come when there's a killer app.
(05:19):
I mean, Go Chrome as a web browser is a killer app. And I know that, like, I think it's clogged. That is starting to offer e-commerce functionality as a service. And so I believe that ChatGPT and and other players may in fact build their own app that acts like a web browser and makes the experience of searching through check shipped a lot more.
(05:45):
So a lot more transparent, a lot easier. And that could be that could be the tipping point. Yeah. And we're seeing a lot of different apps already kind of positioning themselves to become discovery surfaces already. We're seeing that on social media with TikTok shop and Instagram Shop also with some of ChatGPT is recent updates in terms of the shopping experience on there.
(06:09):
So people are using tools like ChatGPT, tools like social media to explore and discover brands to find new tools and services and recommendations. The current statistics that we have on the different search engines that users are turning to does not necessarily reflect the use of ChatGPT or other discovery services, so I think that's important to note. So, Peter, we had also explored before ChatGPT is recent all time memory update, which plays into its search functionalities as well.
(06:49):
So it can now take the memory that it has on your conversations with it and apply that to searches that you might be making to make the results more relevant to you. Could you give a couple examples of how that impacts the search experience on ChatGPT? Well, I think that what's at play here is that a lot of the top content in Google search results was optimized for search, and it's not that it's bad content.
(07:17):
A lot of it is very, very good. But I think that ChatGPT and other like ums may be treating that particular dynamic on its head so that it's looking for what they feel is the most relevant and most informative data that is out there, or content that's out there. Because if ChatGPT is looking at what would have been page 12 and up, which is stuff that would never see the light of day in a traditional Google search, then they're looking for something more than, an SEO optimized page, which of course they are.
(07:58):
They're just looking for the best results. So it makes sense be something that's going to bring the quality of search way up and, and this is a little bit speculative, but that could be again, that could be a tipping point. That's a really huge point. And I think it points to the idea that discoverability for brands is changing, even if the analytics haven't necessarily caught up yet.
(08:25):
This is a huge opportune affinity for brands to leverage high quality, informative content that might not necessarily be ranking on page one of Google, but it is really relevant to certain people who are looking for maybe more specific or narrow down solutions at the point in the search cycle that they're in. Yeah, no, I think that's a great point.
(08:49):
And also thinking about this, even as on a larger macro level, Google has been writing the rules for a long, long time. You know, they build the analytics app, they build the the ads app, paid ads app, they build, build all sorts of tracking data for your site. And it almost can't be that this is just neutral data.
(09:12):
Everything is focused in some way towards selling ads, because that's how Google has made its billions and trillions of dollars and continues to make it so. In a way, this could be a means of democratization, where Google isn't selling all the ads and writing the rules about the ads. So I think there's a lot to really keep your eye on.
(09:39):
Obviously, ChatGPT wants to make ad dollars. Anthropic wants to every, every IL OEM wants to make ad dollars, and they just haven't really figured out a way to make it happen. I believe, and I'm sure they believe that way is out there. So it's it's going to be it's going to be interesting at times in just so many ways and on so many levels.
(10:01):
So let's say you're speaking with a client or colleague who wants to improve their search visibility holistically. So not neglecting Google search and traditional SEO, but to start thinking about SEO with ChatGPT and other similar AI models. What would be the first steps in your opinion? I really think it's to think about the questions that your ideal customer profile, your ISP is asking that would lead them to your business.
(10:32):
So it'd be a specific question about the business or the product you sell, the service you sell, whatever it is. You know, what would be the most likely thing for them to be asking you about? And all all of that data is available, by the way, too. So I think that's the starting place. And then once you know that, I think that a really productive way to view content creation is that you're answering those questions in a very informative, non salesy way.
(11:03):
As as always, that hasn't changed, but you're answering the questions that people are asking rather than just putting in. I need an accountant in and Sausalito, California, which by the way out in Sausalito is probably pretty darn expensive. I think this is great. I think we've covered a lot on some of what's not changing in terms of, you know, sticking to high quality, authoritative content, but also some new opportunities that are arising.
(11:32):
Coming back to I know I mentioned at the beginning that you gave a talk on AI powered SEO earlier in the year. Could you give like a tldr on what you covered at Nam in January and what's changed in AI driven search since then, or what's changed? And maybe some of the advice that you would give today. So the presentation that Nam came from us trying to as a company, trying to reverse engineer AI search, in other words, we put we didn't put a question that we did on Google search.
(12:09):
And the question might just be about a business. What's the best place for me to buy hamburgers in Botswana? And the results are those varied widely between Google search at that time. It's like, this is like like four months ago, not even four months ago. And today, which it seems like an eternity, but based on, you know, what's happened in the last three and a half, four months.
(12:35):
But that's what we were trying to do. And we really found gaps for a lot of businesses that they were coming up like number one on Google search, and they weren't coming up at all on a search. So that's what we were saying then. I think that there's been a little more alignment since then, but it's really too soon to tell.
(13:00):
And I think that paying attention to why a particular business, if you're trying to get visibility for your business and you maybe have it on traditional search, and then you do a charity search or another, all of them and you're not visible, I'd really think about why the companies that are visible are visible and really sort of create a strategy based on what you find.
(13:24):
You know, what craze. I think that this is a great place to stop because we don't want to provide information overload. We want we want to really have something that people can digest and think about and also respond to us, tell us where absolutely we're on, if that's their opinion. But nevertheless, I think we've covered a lot of ground.
I totally agree, and I think there's a lot to crack open on different subtopics of this. So it's something that we can bookmark and come back to for later. Awesome. And so as always, please leave us a review, five star review if possible. But you know, leave us a review anyway, we we want to hear from you.
(14:03):
We want to get an idea of, what how you feel the quality of this podcast is. And, and you can always visit us at inbound avi alias in accelerate velocity.com and learn about what we do. And we're always happy to even have a conversation. We don't need to sell you anything. We're happy to have a conversation.
(14:27):
Absolutely. And if you liked what you heard, subscribe to our newsletter for weekly insights and at the Soon Recaps we'll link that in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you soon. Bye.
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