Ex-Google Engineer Launches Athena For AI Search Visibility via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A former Google Search engineer is betting on the end of traditional SEO, and building tools to help marketers prepare for what comes next.

Andrew Yan, who left Google’s search team earlier this year, co-founded Athena, a startup focused on helping brands stay visible in AI-generated responses from tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

The company launched last month with $2.2 million in funding from Y Combinator and other venture firms.

Athena is part of a new wave of companies responding to a shift in how people discover information. Instead of browsing search results, people are increasingly getting direct answers from AI chatbots.

As a result, the strategies that once helped websites rank in Google may no longer be enough to drive visibility.

Yan told The Wall Street Journal:

“Companies have been spending the last 10 or 20 years optimizing their website for the ‘10 blue links’ version of Google. That version of Google is changing very fast, and it is changing forever.”

Building Visibility In A Zero-Click Web

Athena’s platform is designed to show how different AI models interpret and describe a brand. It tracks how chatbots talk about companies across platforms and recommends ways to optimize web content for AI visibility.

According to the company, Athena already has over 100 customers, including Paperless Post.

The broader trend reflects growing concern among marketers about the rise of a “zero-click internet,” where users get answers directly from AI interfaces and never visit the underlying websites.

Yan’s shift from Google to startup founder underscores how seriously some search insiders are taking this transformation.

Rather than competing for rankings on a search results page, Athena aims to help brands influence the outputs of large language models.

Profound Raises $20 Million For AI Search Monitoring

Athena isn’t the only company working on this.

Profound, another startup highlighted by The Wall Street Journal, has raised more than $20 million from venture capital firms. Its platform monitors how chatbots gather and relay brand-related information to users.

Profound has attracted several large clients, including Chime, and is positioning itself as an essential tool for navigating the complexity of generative AI search.

Co-founder James Cadwallader says the company is preparing for a world where bots, not people, are the primary visitors to websites.

Cadwallader told The Wall Street Journal:

“We see a future of a zero-click internet where consumers only interact with interfaces like ChatGPT. And agents or bots will become the primary visitors to websites.”

Saga Ventures’ Max Altman added that demand for this kind of visibility data has surpassed expectations, noting that marketers are currently “flying completely blind” when it comes to how AI tools represent their brands.

SEO Consultants Are Shifting Focus

The shift is also reaching practitioners. Cyrus Shepard, founder of Zyppy SEO, told the Wall Street Journal that AI visibility went from being negligible at the start of 2025 to 10–15% of his current workload.

By the end of the year, he expects it could represent half of his focus.

Referring to new platforms like Athena and Profound, Shepard said:

“I would classify them all as in beta. But that doesn’t mean it’s not coming.”

While investor estimates suggest these startups have raised just a fraction of the $90 billion SEO industry, their traction indicates a need to address the challenges posed by AI search.

What This Means

These startups are early signs of a larger shift in how content is surfaced and evaluated online.

With AI tools synthesizing answers from multiple sources and often skipping over traditional links, marketers face a new kind of visibility challenge.

Companies like Athena and Profound are trying to fill that gap by giving marketers a window into how generative AI models see their brands and what can be done to improve those impressions.

It’s not clear yet which strategies will work best in this new environment, but the race to figure it out has begun.

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

Brave Search API Now Available Through AWS Marketplace via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Brave Search and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the availability of the Brave Search API in the new AI Agents and Tools category of the AWS Marketplace.

AI Agents And Tools Category Of AWS Marketplace

AWS is entering the AI agent space with a new marketplace that enables entrepreneurs to select from hundreds of AI agents and tools from their new AWS category.

According to the AWS announcement:

“With this launch, AWS Marketplace becomes a single destination where customers can find everything needed for successful AI agent implementations— includes not just agents themselves, but also the critical components that make agents truly valuable—knowledge bases that power them with relevant data, third-party guardrails that enhance security, professional services to support implementation, and deployment options that enable agents to seamlessly interoperate with existing software.”

Customers can choose a pay-as-you-go pricing structure or through a monthly or yearly pricing.

Brave Search

Brave is an independent, privacy-focused search engine. The Brave Search API provides AI LLMs with real-time data, can power agentic search, and can be used for creating applications that need access to the Internet.

The Brave Search API already supplies many of the top AI LLMs with up to date search data.

According to Brian Brown, Chief Business Officer at Brave Software:

“By offering the Brave Search API in AWS Marketplace, we’re providing customers with a streamlined way to access the only independent search API in the market, helping them buy and deploy agent solutions faster and more efficiently. Our customers in foundation models, search engines, and publishing are already using these capabilities to power their chatbots, search grounding, and research tools, demonstrating the real-world value of the only commercially-available search engine API at the scale of the global Web.”

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Deemerwha studio

Google Rolls Out Gemini 2.5 Pro & Deep Search For Paid Subscribers via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google is rolling out two enhancements to AI Mode in Labs: Gemini 2.5 Pro and Deep Search.

These capabilities are exclusive to users subscribed to Google’s AI Pro and AI Ultra plans.

Gemini 2.5 Pro Now Available In AI Mode

Subscribers can now access Gemini 2.5 Pro from a dropdown menu within the AI Mode tab.

Screenshot from: blog.google/products/search/deep-search-business-calling-google-search, July 2025.

While the default model remains available for general queries, the 2.5 Pro model is designed to handle more complex prompts, particularly those involving reasoning, mathematics, or coding.

In an example shared by Google, the model walks through a multi-step physics problem involving gravitational fields, showing how it can solve equations and explain its reasoning with supporting links.

Screenshot from: blog.google/products/search/deep-search-business-calling-google-search, July 2025.

Deep Search Offers AI-Assisted Research

Today’s update also introduces Deep Search, which Google describes as a tool for conducting more comprehensive research.

The feature can generate detailed, citation-supported reports by processing multiple searches and aggregating information across sources.

Google stated in its announcement:

“Deep Search is especially useful for in-depth research related to your job, hobbies, or studies.”

Availability & Rollout

These features are currently limited to users in the United States who subscribe to Google’s AI Pro or AI Ultra plans and have opted into AI Mode through Google Labs.

Google hasn’t provided a firm timeline for when all eligible users will receive access, but rollout has begun.

The “experimental” label on Gemini 2.5 Pro suggests continued adjustments based on user testing.

What This Means

The launch of Deep Search and Gemini 2.5 Pro reflects Google’s broader effort to incorporate generative AI into the search experience.

For marketers, the shift raises questions about visibility in a time when AI-generated summaries and reports may increasingly shape user behavior.

If Deep Search becomes a commonly used tool for information gathering, the structure and credibility of content could play a larger role in discoverability.

Gemini 2.5 Pro’s focus on reasoning and code-related queries makes it relevant for more technical users. Google has positioned it as capable of helping with debugging, code generation, and explanation of advanced concepts. Similar to tools like ChatGPT’s coding features or GitHub Copilot.

Its integration into Search may appeal to users who want technical assistance without leaving the browser environment.

Looking Ahead

The addition of these features behind a paywall continues Google’s movement toward monetizing AI capabilities through subscription services.

While billed as experimental, these updates may provide early insight into how the company envisions the future of AI in search: more automated, task-oriented, and user-specific.

Search professionals will want to monitor how these features evolve, as tools like Deep Search could become more widely adopted.

Anthropic’s New Financial Tool Signals Shift To Offering Specialized Services via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Anthropic announced a new Financial Analysis Solution powered by its Claude 4 and Claude Code models. This is Anthropic’s first foray into a major vertical-focused platform, signaling a shift toward AI providers building tools that directly address common pain points in business workflows and productivity.

Claude For Financial Services

Anthropic’s Claude’s new service is an AI-powered financial analysis tool that’s targeted to financial professionals. It offers data integration via MCP (Model Context Protocol) and secure handling of data and total privacy. No user data is used for training Claude’s generative models.

According to the announcement:

“Claude has real-time access to comprehensive financial information including:

• Box enables secure document management and data room analysis
• Daloopa supplies high-quality fundamentals and KPIs from SEC filings
• Databricks offers unified analytics for big data and AI workloads
• FactSet provides comprehensive equity prices, fundamentals, and consensus estimates
• Morningstar contributes valuation data and research analytics
• PitchBook delivers industry-leading private capital market data and research, empowering users to source investment and fundraising opportunities, conduct due diligence and benchmark performance, faster and with greater confidence
• S&P Global enables access to Capital IQ Financials, earnings call transcripts, and more–essentially your entire research workflow”

Takeaway:

This launch may signal a shift among AI providers toward building industry-specific tools that solve problems for professionals, rather than offering only general-purpose models that others use to provide the same solutions. Generative AI companies have the ability to stitch together solutions from big data providers in ways that smaller companies can’t.

Read more at Anthropic:

Transform financial services with Claude

Featured Image by Shutterstock/gguy

Nearly 8 In 10 Americans Use ChatGPT For Search, Adobe Finds via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A new report from Adobe states that 77% of Americans who use ChatGPT treat it as a search engine.

Among those surveyed, nearly one in four prefer ChatGPT over Google for discovery, indicating a potential shift in user behavior.

Adobe surveyed 800 consumers and 200 marketers or small business owners in the U.S. All participants self-reported using ChatGPT as a search engine.

ChatGPT Usage Spans All Age Groups

According to the findings, usage is strong across demographics:

• Gen X: 80%
• Gen Z: 77%
• Millennials: 75%
• Baby Boomers: 74%

Notably, 28% of Gen Z respondents say they start their search journey with ChatGPT. This suggests younger users may be leading the shift in default discovery behavior.

Trust In AI Search Is Rising

Adobe’s report indicates growing trust in conversational AI. Three in ten respondents say they trust ChatGPT more than traditional search engines.

That trust appears to influence behavior, with 36% reporting they’ve discovered a new product or brand through ChatGPT. Among Gen Z, that figure rises to 47%.

The top use cases cited include:

• Everyday questions (55%)
• Creative tasks and brainstorming (53%)
• Financial advice (21%)
• Online shopping (13%)

Why Users Choose AI Over Traditional Search

The most common reason people use ChatGPT for search is its ability to quickly summarize complex topics (54%). Additionally, 33% said it offers faster answers with fewer clicks than Google.

Respondents also report that AI results feel more personalized. A majority (81%) prefer ChatGPT for open-ended, creative questions, while 77% find its responses more tailored than traditional search results.

Marketers Shift Focus To AI Visibility

Adobe’s survey suggests businesses are already responding to the shift. Nearly half of marketers and business owners (47%) say they use ChatGPT for marketing, primarily to create product descriptions, social media copy, and blog content.

Looking ahead, two-thirds plan to increase their investment in “AI visibility,” with 76% saying it’s essential for their brand to appear in ChatGPT results in 2025.

What Works In AI-Driven Discovery

To improve visibility in conversational AI results, marketers report the best-performing content types are:

• Data-driven articles (57%)
• How-to guides (51%)

These formats may align well with AI’s tendency to surface factual, instructive, and referenceable information.

Why This Matters

Adobe’s findings highlight the need for marketers to adapt strategies as users turn to AI tools for product discovery.

Instead of replacing SEO, AI visibility can complement it. Brands tailoring content for conversational search may gain an edge in reaching audiences through personalized pathways.

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

OpenAI And Perplexity Set To Battle Google For Browser Dominance via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Credible rumors are circulating that OpenAI is developing a browser. However, the timing of the anonymous tip is curious, because Perplexity coincidentally announced they are releasing a browser named Comet.

It’s a longstanding tradition in Silicon Valley for competitors to try to overshadow competitor announcements with competing announcements of their own, and the timing of OpenAI’s anonymous rumor seems more than coincidental. For example, OpenAI leaked rumors of their own competing search engine on the exact same date that Google officially announced Gemini 1.5, on February 15, 2024. It’s a thing.

According to Reuters:

“OpenAI is close to releasing an AI-powered web browser that will challenge Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), opens new tab market-dominating Google Chrome, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The browser is slated to launch in the coming weeks, three of the people said, and aims to use artificial intelligence to fundamentally change how consumers browse the web. It will give OpenAI more direct access to a cornerstone of Google’s success: user data.”

Perplexity Comet

According to TechCrunch, Perplexity’s Comet browser comes with its Perplexity AI search engine as the default. The browser includes an AI agent called Comet Assistant that can help with everyday tasks like summarizing emails and navigating the web. Comet will be released first to its $200/month subscribers and to a list of VIPs invited to try it out.

There’s something old-school about Google, Perplexity, and OpenAI battling it out for browser dominance, a technological space that continues to have relevance to users and perhaps the one constant of the Internet, which is that and pop-ups.

ChatGPT Recommendations Potentially Influenced By Hacked Sites via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

An investigation by SEO professional James Brockbank reveals that ChatGPT may be recommending businesses based on content from hacked websites and expired domains.

The findings aren’t a comprehensive study but the result of personal testing and observations. Brockbank, who serves as Managing Director at Digitaloft, says his report emerged from exploring how brands gain visibility in ChatGPT’s responses.

His analysis suggests that some actors are successfully gaming the system by publishing content on compromised or repurposed domains that retain high authority signals.

This content, despite being irrelevant or deceptive, can surface in ChatGPT-generated business recommendations.

Brockbank wrote:

“I believe that the more we understand about why certain citations get surfaced, even if these are spammy and manipulative, the better we understand how these new platforms work.”

How Manipulated Content Appears In ChatGPT Responses

Brockbank identified two main tactics that appear to influence ChatGPT’s business recommendations:

1. Hacked Websites

In multiple examples, ChatGPT surfaced gambling recommendations that traced back to legitimate websites that had been compromised.

One case involved a California-based domestic violence attorney whose site was found hosting a listicle about online slots.

Other examples included a United Nations youth coalition website and a U.S. summer camp site. They were both seemingly hijacked to host gambling-related content, including pages using white text on a white background to evade detection.

2. Expired Domains

The second tactic involves acquiring expired domains with strong backlink profiles and rebuilding them to promote unrelated content.

In one case, Brockbank discovered a site with over 9,000 referring domains from sources like BBC, CNN, and Bloomberg. The domain, once owned by a UK arts charity, had been repurposed to promote gambling.

Brockbank explained:

“There’s no question that it’s the site’s authority that’s causing it to be used as a source. The issue is that the domain changed hands and the site totally switched up.”

He also found domains that previously belonged to charities and retailers now being used to publish casino recommendations.

Why This Content Is Surfacing

Brockbank suggests that ChatGPT favors domains with perceived authority and recent publication dates.

Additionally, he finds ChatGPT’s recommendation system may not sufficiently evaluate whether the content aligns with the original site’s purpose.

Brockbank observed:

“ChatGPT prefers recent sources, and the fact that these listicles aren’t topically relevant to what the domain is (or should be) about doesn’t seem to matter.”

Brockbank acknowledges that being featured in authentic “best of” listicles or media placements can help businesses gain visibility in AI-generated results.

However, leveraging hacked or expired domains to manipulate source credibility crosses an ethical line.

Brockbank writes:

“Injecting your brand or content into a hacked site or rebuilding an expired domain solely to fool a language model into citing it? That’s manipulation, and it undermines the credibility of the platform.”

What This Means

While Brockbank’s findings are based on individual testing rather than a formal study, they surface a real concern: ChatGPT may be citing manipulated sources without fully understanding their origins or context.

The takeaway isn’t just about risk, it’s also about responsibility. As platforms like ChatGPT become more influential in how users discover businesses, building legitimate authority through trustworthy content and earned media will matter more than ever.

At the same time, the investigation highlights an urgent need for companies to improve how these systems detect and filter deceptive content. Until that happens, both users and businesses should approach AI-generated recommendations with a dose of skepticism.

Brockbank concluded:

“We’re not yet at the stage where we can trust ChatGPT recommendations without considering where it’s sourced these from.”

For more insights, see the original report at Digitaloft.

Featured Image: Mijansk786/Shutterstock

Ahrefs Study Finds No Evidence Google Penalizes AI Content via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A large-scale analysis by Ahrefs of 600,000 webpages finds that Google neither rewards nor penalizes AI-generated content.

The report, authored by Si Quan Ong and Xibeijia Guan, provides a data-driven examination of AI’s role in search visibility. It challenges ongoing speculation that using generative tools could hurt rankings.

How the Study Was Conducted

Ahrefs pulled the top 20 ranking URLs for 100,000 random keywords from its Keywords Explorer database.

The content of each page was analyzed using Ahrefs’ own AI content detector, built into its Page Inspect feature in Site Explorer.

The result was a dataset of 600,000 URLs, making this a comprehensive study on AI-generated content and search performance.

Key Findings

Majority of Top Pages Include AI Content

The data shows AI is already a fixture in high-ranking pages:

• 4.6% of pages were classified as entirely AI-generated
• 13.5% were purely human-written
• 81.9% combined AI and human content

Among those mixed pages, usage patterns broke down as:

• Minimal AI (1-10%): 13.8%
• Moderate AI (11-40%): 40%
• Substantial AI (41-70%): 20.3%
• Dominant AI (71-99%): 7.8%

These findings align with a separate Ahrefs survey from its “State of AI in Content Marketing” report, in which 87% of marketers reported using AI to assist in creating content.

Ranking Impact: Correlation Close to Zero

Perhaps the most significant data point is the correlation between AI usage and Google ranking position, which was just 0.011. In practical terms, this indicates no relationship.

The report states:

“There is no clear relationship between how much AI-generated content a page has and how highly it ranks on Google. This suggests that Google neither significantly rewards nor penalizes pages just because they use AI.”

This echoes Google’s own public stance from February 2023, in which the company clarified that it evaluates content based on quality, not whether AI was used to produce it.

Subtle Trends at the Top

While the overall correlation is negligible, Ahrefs notes a slight trend among #1 ranked pages: they tend to have less AI content than those ranking lower.

Pages with minimal AI usage (0–30%) showed a faint preference for top spots. However, the report emphasizes that this isn’t strong enough to suggest a ranking factor, but rather a pattern worth noting.

Fully AI-generated content did appear in top-20 results but rarely ranked #1, reinforcing the challenge of creating top-performing pages using AI alone.

Key Takeaways

For content marketers, the Ahrefs study provides data-driven reassurance: using AI does not inherently risk a Google penalty.

At the same time, the rarity of pure AI content at the top suggests human oversight still matters.

The report suggests that most successful content today is created using a blend of human input and AI support.

In the words of the authors:

“Google probably doesn’t care how you made the content. It simply cares whether searchers find it helpful.”

The authors compare the state of content creation to the post-nuclear era of steel manufacturing. Just as there’s no longer any manufactured steel untouched by radiation, there may soon be no content untouched by AI.

Looking Ahead

Ahrefs’ findings indicate that content creators can confidently treat AI as a tool, not a threat. While Google remains focused on helpful, high-quality pages, how that content is made matters less than whether it meets user needs.

Relying Too Much On AI Is Backfiring For Businesses via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

As more companies race to adopt generative AI tools, some are learning a hard lesson: when used without oversight or expertise, these tools can cause more problems than they solve.

From broken websites to ineffective marketing copy, the hidden costs of AI mistakes are adding up, forcing businesses to bring in professionals to clean up the mess.

AI Delivers Mediocrity Without Supervision

Sarah Skidd, a product marketing manager and freelance writer, was hired to revise the website copy generated by an AI tool for a hospitality company, according to a report by the BBC.

Instead of the time- and cost-savings the client expected, the result was 20 hours of billable rewrites.

Skidd told the BBC:

“[The copy] was supposed to sell and intrigue but instead it was very vanilla.”

This isn’t an isolated case. Skidd said other writers have shared similar stories. One told her that 90% of their workload now consists of editing AI-generated text that falls flat.

The issue isn’t just quality. According to a study by researchers Anders Humlum and Emilie Vestergaard, real-world productivity gains from AI chatbots are far below expectations.

Although controlled experiments show improvements of over 15%, most users report time savings of just 2.8% of their work hours on average.

Cutting Corners Can Lead To Problems

The risks go beyond boring copy. Sophie, co-owner of Create Designs, a UK-based digital agency, says she’s seen a wave of clients suffer avoidable problems after trying to use AI tools like ChatGPT for quick fixes.

Warner tells the BBC:

“Now they are going to ChatGPT first.”

And that’s often when things go wrong.

In one case, a client used AI-generated code to update an event page. The shortcut crashed their entire website, causing three days of downtime and a $485 repair bill.

Warner says even larger clients encounter similar issues but hesitate to admit AI was involved, making diagnosis harder and more expensive.

Warner added:

“The process of correcting these mistakes takes much longer than if professionals had been consulted from the beginning.”

Training & Infrastructure Matter More Than Tools

The Danish research paper by Humlum and Vestergaard finds businesses that offer AI training and establish internal guidelines see better (if still modest) results.

Workers with employer support saved slightly more time, about 3.6% of work hours compared to 2.2% without guidance.

Even then, the productivity benefits don’t seem to trickle down. The study found no measurable changes in earnings, hours worked, or job satisfaction for 97% of AI users surveyed.

Prof. Feng Li, associate dean for research and innovation at Bayes Business School, told the BBC:

“Human oversight is essential. Poor implementation can lead to reputational damage, unexpected costs—and even significant liabilities.”

The Gap Between AI Speed & Human Standards

Kashish Barot, a copywriter based in Gujarat, India, told the BBC she spends her time editing AI-generated content for U.S. clients.

She says many underestimate what it takes to produce effective writing.

Barot says:

“AI really makes everyone think it’s a few minutes’ work. However, good copyediting, like writing, takes time because you need to think and not just curate like AI.”

The research backs this up: marketers and software developers report slightly higher time savings when employers support AI use, but gains for teachers and accountants are negligible.

While AI tools may speed up certain tasks, they still require human judgment to meet brand standards and audience needs.

Key Takeaways

The takeaway for businesses? AI isn’t a shortcut to quality. Without proper training, strategy, and infrastructure, even the most powerful tools fall short.

What many companies overlook is that AI’s success depends less on the technology itself and more on the people using it, and whether they’ve been equipped to use it well.

Rushed adoption may save time upfront, but it leads to more expensive problems down the line. Whether it’s broken code, off-brand messaging, or public-facing content that lacks nuance, the cost of fixing AI mistakes can quickly outweigh the perceived savings.

For marketers, developers, and business leaders, the lesson is: AI can help, but only when human expertise stays in the loop.

Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock