Brands are chasing a new kind of influencer to help promote their products.
Driving the news: As more and more people turn to chatbots for questions that they used to ask Google, a slate of new startups has started offering tools designed to help brands get their products mentioned in AI-generated search results.
- Companies like Profound, Scrunch, and Brandtech have built software that can predict how likely an AI model is to recommend a company and offer tips on how to get mentioned more by chatbots.
Why it’s happening: Brands have long leaned on search engine optimization (SEO) experts to stay atop Google search results, but with AI chatbots starting to take on more of that internet gatekeeper role, the traditional SEO playbook could quickly become outdated.
- Google still dominates the search world, but traffic from AI chatbots grew by over 80% in the past year, led by ChatGPT.
- Research from consultancy Bain found that eight in 10 people now use AI for at least 40% of their internet searches.
Why it matters: As Profound’s co-founder put it, this is a CDs to streaming moment. Figuring out how to get these AI chatbots to organically point to a brand or product could very well be the new frontier of the ~US$90 billion SEO industry.—LA