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June 13, 2025 • 15 mins

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of the
NerdBrand Podcast.
And you're wondering like, hey,where's Michaela and where's
Mitch?
Well, you know I told them togo back into the hole where they
came from and do more stuff,because we need things done.
Also, they're.
You know it's very rainy outand Mitch is a papaw.
So, anyways, let's talk aboutaudio overviews in Google.

(00:22):
Whee, so, anyways, let's talkabout audio overviews in Google.

(00:48):
Wee, hey everybody, welcome tothe NerdBrand Podcast, going to
talk about audio overviews inGoogle.
And you're like, wait a minute,what the heck is this?
So, in case you weren't aware,search engine generative AI has
not really gone anywhere.
It's still progressing.
Google's going to make somechanges, still makes changes.
If you're seeing drops in yourtraffic, it might be because of
those changes.

(01:08):
So we have a lot of thingswhere Google has said you know,
we're committing to some AIstuff and you're going to take
it, and whether you like it ornot.
So, at the end of the day, weall need to start adapting our
content, how we approach andwhat we think about with regards
to search engine optimization,because, yeah, yeah, it's going

(01:30):
to get rough out there, watersare going to get choppy.
So, anyways, let's talk aboutgoogle launching audio ai
overviews.
So you know, an ai overview isthat portion of the search
result page when you type in aquery and you see google
thinking and it starts typingout a paragraph and it's like
here's this and here's somelinks and here's that, and then
below all that is the blue links, which those eventually will go
away.

(01:50):
That's pretty much going to beyour search result page and
that's going to suck for a lotof folks, because I don't know
about you, but I don't really gomuch further than that.
So it's kind of created what'scalled a walled garden in Google
.
But they are experimenting nowwith Google AI, with audio
overviews and the search results.
So you can just opt in to theexperiment via search labs if
you would like, but the overviewcreates an AI-generated audio

(02:12):
summary of the search results.
So not only can you read asummary of the search results of
the thing you look for, you canalso listen to it, so you can
hear people talk Well, not aperson, obviously, but you can
hear somebody say this is whatthis audio is.
So you know, here we are in thatage.
It's very star tracky.
It's very, very star tracky.
Um, you can listen to it, uh,before visiting.

(02:35):
And it's really funny becausethe the thing that google says
it's like before visiting thewebsite.
You can listen to it and I'mlike I don't know if people are
going to be visiting the website.
I mean, if you're a're a D2Cbusiness, you know, in
e-commerce, you're probably fine, you're going to be fine.
But you know, yeah, got to be alittle rough for those
informational brochure sites outthere.
It only works in English rightnow for US users through the

(02:59):
search app, search ads or searchads.
You can tell where my brain istoday through search labs.
So how they work is when Googlethinks that an audio overview
might help, you might see anoption to create a short audio
summary.
It'll be on the right side ofyour page, of your search result
page, so probably morepredominantly found if you use

(03:24):
Google's search, like it'sactual app, uh, that that you
can get on iOS or Android Um,and so that'll give you a way to
look at the experiment if youwant Um.
But it processes theinformation, uh, for the search
result page and it creates alittle audio snippet and then
you kind of get to listen tothat snippet.
It's very straightforward stuff.
I know Um audio overviews.

(03:45):
You got to sign up for theexperiment.
So Search Labs is Google'stesting platform for all the new
search features, and if youwant to be that person that's
like you know what, I don't mindbeing a guinea pig go forth and
be comfortable.
By doing so, you can try ondifferent things.
There's this thing called TryOn, so it's as you shop you can

(04:07):
see how pieces of clothing willlook on you.
You can kind of check out thatability.
They have a filmmaking toolcalled Flow seamlessly create
cinematic clips.
You can try Wisk, which isgoing to let you use images as
prompts to visualize your ideas.
These are all cool things.
At the end of the day, though,I'm still going to argue as an

(04:29):
agency owner.
You're still going to need aprofessional to both not only
use the tools but to also putthings together in a way that
makes sense for the audienceyou're trying to reach, because
you're making ads now on yourown and DIY ads I'm sorry, just
don't perform as well asprofessional ones.
I'll die on that hill becauseI've seen it and AI right now is

(04:50):
kind of really good at kind ofgathering up everything, but you
really need a person to watchfor hallucinations.
You really need to watch forincorrect references.
You need to watch for just therepetitiveness of what it says.
Ryan Reynolds has a new MintMobile commercial and he cuts
into audio or AI for writing thescripts.

(05:13):
It's kind of funny, it's in histone, but still, you know it's
a way to kind of adapt what waswritten from AI into something
organic.
However, anyhow, the wholething is that when you're using
AI, it sounds great Like I'mgoing to save so much money in
so much time, but you're reallynot.
You're going to set aprecedence that your brand if

(05:33):
you don't really care as muchabout your brand is is is
perceived that you're kind ofmaking these shortcuts, then
you're going to either attractan audience that doesn't either,
or anybody else that will maybecare Right.
So you kind of have tounderstand how what you project
is what you hope to attract, andso be very careful and

(05:54):
judicious in using AI and thetools that are offered.
And I'm not saying don't usethem.
I'm just saying pick the onesyou want to use that you're good
at, but always rely on aprofessional to kind of polish
that.
I do it all the time as myself.
Yeah, I can make a website forsomebody, but they start to all
look the same after a while,which is why I go get a designer

(06:15):
and that's what they do.
And then I have a creativedirector that makes sure that we
don't design color outside thelines, because I was told months
ago any idiot can color in acoloring book.
I'm not sure how context ofthat was, I just thought it was
funny, but it is kind of true.
You get some crayons, acoloring book and tell them to
color and they can do it, butit's not going to necessarily

(06:35):
make sense.
You know, if you want to try tomake sense out of it.
Anyways, that's enough of that.
So, looking ahead, um, it'sjust another step in effort for
Google search to create multipleways to access the interwebs
and, uh, in, in the end, in theend, it's a good thing, it's a,
it really is.
Um, you know, especially if youare impaired, uh, and that's

(06:56):
where I can see that just thebiggest benefit of you know, of
that Google finally adoptingsome kind of you know, the
ecosystem and how AI is changingit.
The CEO responded to theseconcerns and one of the quotes

(07:23):
he said is well, he was asked inthe idea that AI mode will
still take you to the web, tothe human created web.
You know, yes, that's going tobe the core design principle for
us.
So it's very much like ifsomebody makes something,
they're still going to go thereand he says, yes, so I, you know

(07:43):
, users sending Google, sendingusers to a human created webpage
Um, it's important because alot of these websites are made
by people.
Um, hopefully, um, you know youwant those referrals.
You, it's, your website is yourdigital front door of your
business, and so imagine beinggoing to a restaurant being
greeted by a robot.

(08:04):
You might think it's cool andit's really neat, but then you
order a burger and they bringyou a cow.
You're like I don't think yougot this process right, my man.
So that's sort of somethingkind of how I view it.
Um, he was question aboutGoogle's AI overviews and the

(08:25):
modes, and he still wants to endup on the human-created web.
It would still go there us todeliver higher quality referrals
.
Right, you know where peopleare like.
They have a much higherlikelihood of finding what
they're looking for.
They're exploring, they'recurious.
Their intent is gettingsatisfied more.

(08:46):
That's what our metrics show.
That's coming from the CEO ofGoogle telling you about search.
So the interviewer said it makeshumans that create the web
nervous.
The journalists are gettingthey've already been nervous.
Look, I think I tell you what,trying to read these quotes by
the way, it's not me, this ishow they read I am really

(09:07):
struggling, like so he responded.
The CEO of Google respondedlook, I think the news and
journalism will play animportant role, you know, in the
future.
We're pretty committed to it,right.
Journalism will play animportant role, you know, in the
future, we're pretty committedto it, right.
And so I think, making surethat ecosystem, in fact, I think
we'll be able to differentiateourselves as a company over time
because of our commitment there.

(09:27):
So it's something I think youknow I definitely value and have
a lot of.
As we design, as we aredesigning, we'll continue to
prioritize approaches Clever wayof, I guess, saying like no, we
still care about people.
But yeah, I mean, you know.
Look, we all know Google's inthe mode of making money.
I mean, the next chapter ofsearches is literally this we're

(09:49):
not going to escape it.
You know we talked about manyyears like marketing.
There's even commercials nowfor marketing using AI, and it's
not going to go away.
It's back in the day, a friendof mine made a great analogy
that you know you would go intoa class and you would learn hey,

(10:10):
you can't use that calculator.
That's cheating.
I need to see your work.
Well, we've all moved frombeing able to manually calculate
and figure out math problemswith pen and paper to now
becoming operators of themachine that figures out the
problem by us just inputtingdata.

(10:30):
So that is where this is going.
As you are looking at amarketing agency and you go, hmm
, you guys use an AI.
Well, they're all going to say,yes, it's all going to be
buzzwordy in that way anyway.
Even we do that, I admit, butwe actually do use it.
But I'm not going to tell youhow I use it, not because I'm
trying to hide something,because there is a way you ask

(10:58):
things and there's a way youdon't, how we prompt AI to
create what it does or draft.
We don't deliver that as thefinal product.
We have actual humans thatstill operate and deliver and
you talk to and that's importantbecause it's still very
relational for us as a businessand delivering these things,
because brand is a message.
It is not a simple here's an adand I made it.
It's got a picture of a person20% off.

(11:19):
It's more than that it is.
What picture of what kind ofperson does it share the
demographic of the audienceyou're trying to hit?
Is this offer within themargins of what you're able to
sell and absorb as a retailer?
Is 20% cutting into thosemargins?
Are we okay to use 20%?
Should it be 5%, 15?
Buy one, get one?

(11:40):
What you know?
Those are things that require alittle bit more in-depth
thinking and discussion betweenus and the clientele, and I'm
sorry but I just don't think anAI robot is going to do that as
well, because the AI robotunless you input a ton of
spreadsheets of your finances,maybe not.
It's going to take a lot oftime.
We can do that, but it takes alot of time.

(12:01):
So how you ask is important.
Like you walk up to a counterto order a sandwich, you don't
walk up and go like I want asandwich, I'm hungry.
They make 17 different kinds ofsandwiches.
What do you want?
What size?
Medium, large, small?
You don't.
What do you want?
What size, medium, large, small?
Do you want to drink with it?
It still requires humaninteraction and it always will,
and with something serious asfood as it is with your business

(12:22):
.
I would hope that we all don'tlose sight of that as we chase
this, obviously, this new shinyobject that keeps coming up in
different ways, because thattechnology is still in its
infancy.
So be careful adoptingsomething that isn't practical
enough for your business to use,because you're probably going
to distract yourself away fromactually doing what you need to

(12:44):
be working on in your business,and that may be like working on
how to better manage yourfinances or, who knows, being
married to things.
But just be careful with theshiny objects is all I urge the
listeners here.
I really urge them to do uh,because it can, you can
definitely start.
It's a slippery slope.
And uh, next thing, you know,months and weeks have passed and

(13:08):
oh, and it happens to all of us.
So, um, one last thing um, youknow, emphasizes that Google
remains the front page of theinternet, but their commitment
to making it easier for users toexplore the web with only more
context and that's a fairstatement Um, changing how
things have worked for 20 years,it's difficult, even the last

(13:32):
15, it's difficult and it's hardto believe we are talking about
something that's been aroundthat long.
So he answered you know, look.
In some ways, when mobile came,people wanted answers to more
questions, so we're constantlyevolving it, but you're right
this moment that evolutionbecause underlying technology is
becoming much more capable youcan have AI give a lot of

(13:53):
context, but one of ourimportant design goals, though,
is when you come to Googlesearch.
You're going to get a lot ofcontext, but you're going to go
and find a lot of things out onthe web, so that will be true in
AI mode and in AI overviews,and so on.
Takeaway is look, we're justgiving you a summary the cliff

(14:13):
notes, if you will, for thosethat know what those are of what
you're looking for.
But all these websites, you'restill going to have to sift
through them, and basically, Ithink he's trying to say we're
not going to steal the trafficaway from those places, making
all other marketing initiativesvery much valid and very much
requiring professionals.
If you like this episode of theNerdBrand podcast, be sure to go

(14:34):
to nerdbrandagencycom slashpodcast and you can sign up for
future episodes.
We're doing emails now.
We've had a list going.
If you would like to be a partof a segmented list that just
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Slash podcast and sign up andwe'll see you next week and keep
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