Kevin Lee interviews Zac Ali, who leads U.S. operations and
marketing at Finder, to unpack how search, AI, and brand visibility are
being fundamentally reshaped. For marketers who remember the “golden age” of
SEO (when strong content and a solid link profile could reliably generate large
volumes of organic traffic) it’s clear the landscape has shifted.
Zac argued that most of the industry is still unprepared for
the move from classic “10 blue links” SEO toward an environment dominated
by geo signals and large language models (LLMs). Many teams remain
attached to outdated tactics while underestimating the renewed importance of
trust, reputation, and real brand affinity.
A key theme was executive buy‑in. With SEO no longer
fitting neatly into last‑click attribution models, it’s harder to justify
investment using traditional ROI narratives. Zac’s view is that marketers
should focus on initiatives the business ought to pursue regardless—YouTube
content, podcasts, social presence, events—and highlight how these become the
raw inputs for both search algorithms and AI systems. When brands consistently
show up where their customers are and deliver genuine value, visibility becomes
an outcome rather than the sole objective.
This leads directly to the growing overlap between SEO,
PR, and reputation management. LLMs ingest a wide range of signals: reviews,
Reddit threads, influencer content, community discussions, and classic
editorial coverage. Technical SEO remains necessary, but it is no longer
sufficient. If brands are not actively shaping how they are discussed in
public, they are neglecting one of the most powerful levers of modern
visibility.
The discussion also covered regulated “your money or
your life” verticals such as finance and healthcare, where Zac has
extensive experience. In these categories, strict guardrails around unbiased
reviews, fact‑checking, and compliant language are mandatory. Paradoxically,
the higher regulatory bar makes trust even more critical—not only for users and
regulators, but also for AI models that must summarize complex topics
responsibly.
Zac and Kevin further explored multi‑touch customer journeys, where a user might encounter a Meta ad, run a Google search, watch a YouTube review, and consult an AI assistant before converting. In this context, organic visibility, whether in traditional search results or AI-generated responses, quietly amplifies performance across paid channels.