The Death Of Traditional SEO: What Is Next With AI Search

Описание: Search is breaking—and CMOs can’t afford to look away.

On this episode of The CMO Podcast, Jim Stengel sits down with Daniel, Head of Organic & Agent Search at Expedia, and James, Co-Founder & CEO of Profound, for a candid, behind-the-scenes look at how marketing is changing in an AI-first world.

As generative AI replaces blue-link search with conversational answers, brands are no longer just optimizing for humans—they’re marketing to machines on behalf of people. Daniel and James unpack what this platform shift really means for CMOs: how visibility works when there are no clicks, why sentiment suddenly matters, and why traditional SEO teams may become the most valuable function in the company.

Using Expedia and Profound as a real-world case study, the conversation explores how synthetic prompting, AI search measurement, and content orchestration are reshaping brand strategy—and why the next era of marketing will reward teams that move early, experiment fast, and think in portfolios, not silos.

If you’re wondering whether you’re doing enough to prepare for AI search, this episode makes one thing clear: standing still is the riskiest move of all.

What You’ll Learn
• Why AI search is the biggest platform shift since Google—and why it changes everything
• What “brand visibility” means when there are no links, clicks, or rankings
• How Expedia measures AI presence across ChatGPT-style interfaces
• Why sentiment becomes a new competitive signal in generative search
• The hidden complexity behind “synthetic prompts” and AI measurement
• Why SEO teams may become the most powerful function in marketing
• How brands should think about AI search, AI ads, and agent commerce as a portfolio
• What CMOs should do this week to prepare their organizations
• Why marketing success in AI is never “done”—it must be re-earned continuously
• The leadership mindset required to win in a machine-mediated internet

Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome & the Super Bowl setup: why AI search is unavoidable
04:45 — How Daniel and James met—and why Expedia leaned in early
09:10 — The real problem: measuring brand visibility in AI search
16:40 — Profound’s origin story: seeing the shift before anyone else
25:45 — “Marketing to machines”: how content strategy fundamentally changes
33:30 — Why sentiment is the new SEO signal
41:20 — Scaling AI visibility with hundreds of millions of content assets
49:50 — What CMOs should do now to prepare their teams
56:45 — The future of advertising in generative AI environments
1:00:20 — The closing brief: leadership, conviction, and betting on the future

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