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Hi, I’m @raygrieselhuber Founder & CEO of DemandSphere 18+ years experience in data systems, engineering, and enterprise SEO Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Shift to multipolarity? Traditional Search Monopoly Gen AI Search Landscape Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Where is the audience today vs. the future? 2004-2023 Effective Monopoly 2023-? Gen AI emergence One or multiple winners? Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Rapidly emerging behavior patterns in Gen AI search https:/ /blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2025/03/17/adobe-analytics-traffic-to-us-retail-websites-from-generative-ai-sources-jumps-1200-percent Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Traffic from Gen AI search is still a rounding error… https:/ /gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/united-states-of-america Gen AI search traffic < .03% Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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But how are younger generations searching? Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Also, is traffic still our main KPI? Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Zero Click World: the shift from traffic to influence & SoV https:/ /sparktoro.com/blog/2024-zero-click-search-study-for-every-1000-us-google-searches-only-374-clicks-go-to-the-open-web-in-the-eu-its-360/ Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Questions abound… Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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SoV Measurement & Optimization needs to be in context “10 blue links” Modern SERPs ChatGPT Perplexity Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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The 10 blue links are back! Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Modern SERP Features Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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The missing detail is factors that impact CTR Avg. Position (Max traffic potential) Impressions (depends on Avg. Pos.) Clicks CTR (clicks / impressions) What happened? Derived metric What happened? Derived metric WHY?! Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Pixels = Attention but do they matter in Gen AI? Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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“SERP Features” in Gen AI Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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“SERP Features” will continue to emerge in Gen AI too Visual Rank Sentiment Layout Shift Scroll Depth Pixel Depth CTR Modeling Ad Copy Suggested Keywords # of Elements Ad Location Locations Reviews Merchant IDs Business Titles Ranking URLs Title, Meta, etc. Custom Extraction SERP Screenshots Pixel Height SERP Features Search Intent Keyword Clusters Topic Modeling Search Volume Ad Presence Ad Performance Co-Occurrence Competitor Performance Competitor Discovery Share of Voice Visual Share of Voice URL Screenshots NLP Analysis Video Discussions & Forums Social Knowledge Graph SERP Feature Interiors FAQ Flight Details Hotel Details Review details PLA Text Ads People Also Ask Refine this search Organic Commerce Related Products Shops News News Details Price & Currency Google vs. Bing Buying Guide Howto Job Details

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It feels a lot like the early 2000s ● It’s somewhat of an achievement to simply have data (this is changing quickly) Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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It feels a lot like the early 2000s ● It’s somewhat of an achievement to simply have data (this is changing quickly) ● There is no equivalent of GSC for Gen AI search engines (will there ever be?) Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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It feels a lot like the early 2000s ● It’s somewhat of an achievement to simply have data (this is changing quickly) ● There is no equivalent of GSC for Gen AI search engines (will there ever be?) ● The narrative around measurement must evolve toward clarity Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Let’s look at Gen AI Search Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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The dirty “secret”: AI search depends on traditional organic indexes Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Two reasons Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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The training data is almost always stale Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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They also hallucinate Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Live Retrieval (RAG) is the key Search Index Foundational Model Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Solving the stale content problem with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and Google / Bing LLMs Search Engines Answer engine uses combines LLM answers with organic index from Google or Bing (RAG) User receives higher quality and more relevant answer

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Google & Bing form the backbone of AI search Google AI Overviews Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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ChatGPT is using BOTH Google and Bing indexes These citation sources are from Google. See next slide.

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ChatGPT is using BOTH Google and Bing indexes Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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AI Overviews are Google’s RAG in the SERP Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Data Study (more on this later) ● 10,000 prompts ● 17 industries ● Google ● Bing ● ChatGPT ● Perplexity

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How we gathered data Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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The key to measuring visibility is knowing what your audience is asking Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Prompt research is the new keyword research Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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But where to get data for prompt research? Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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It turns out, yet again, Google is the winner here Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Google’s “database of intentions” is also their “database of interactions” Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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The database of user interactions ● The Google antitrust case has proven that Google uses “user interactions” to influence its ranking systems ● Google’s total dominance over the search market in the last 20 years gives them an unmatched data advantage ● This data advantage reveals itself in SERP Features designed to keep more interactions on the SERPs ● This data can be mined Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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This means that Google has more data than anybody on what people will ask about People Also Ask (PAA) and similar features are based on Google’s extensive data about what people ask next for a given search. Side note: they also know what people are most likely to buy

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Questions to AI search engines “look” like informational queries: ● Longer query length ○ “best winter tires 4Runner” vs. “What are the best winter tires for my 4Runner” Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Questions to AI search engines “look” like informational queries: ● Longer query length ○ “best winter tires 4Runner” vs. “What are the best winter tires for my 4Runner” ● Lower measurable search volume per query Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Questions to AI search engines “look” like informational queries: ● Longer query length ○ “best winter tires 4Runner” vs. “What are the best winter tires for my 4Runner” ● Lower measurable search volume per query ● You can use SERP data to tie informational queries back to commercial intent Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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This data can be used for prompt discovery Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Tie prompt targeting to desired search intent and volume Commercial best winter tires People Also Asked People Also Asked People Also Asked People Also Asked Which brand is the best for winter? Why are Blizzak tires so good? Which is better for snow awd or snow tires? Do snow tires really make a difference?

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Start with desired search intent and search volume

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Mine PAA questions for prompt opportunities

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Mine PAA questions at scale for commercial intent Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Mine PAA questions at scale for commercial intent Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Clustering across questions occurs in many places Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Data Study ● 10,000 prompts ● 17 industries ● Google ● Bing ● ChatGPT ● Perplexity

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(White paper in the works) Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Reliance on Google & Bing Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber 51.72% Google Index ChatGPT 4o 14.26% Bing Index ChatGPT 4o 34.02% Custom / Remix ChatGPT 4o 37.12% Google Index Perplexity 45.63% Custom / Remix Perplexity 17.25% Bing Index Perplexity

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Evaluating SoV and other results Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Ranking & Appearance Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber 5.8 Google Avg. Rank ChatGPT 4o 5.6 Top Pos. Avg. Google Rank ChatGPT 4o 8 75% of results, Google Rank ChatGPT 4o 5.1 Google Avg. Rank Perplexity 7 75% of results, Google Rank Perplexity 6.78 Top Pos. Avg. Google Rank Perplexity

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This points to some serious re-ranking Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Re-ranking of the search index results Search Index Foundational Model Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber Ranking System

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You can just ask them how they work Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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But they are not always forthcoming Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Takeaway #1: Do not abandon dominant traffic sources today to chase emerging trends Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Takeaway #2: Recognize this as a time of transition Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Takeaway #3: Keep multiple paradigms in mind at the same time Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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Takeaway #4: Be quick to test and experiment emerging platforms and behaviors Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber

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State of the industry in Gen AI search monitoring ● Results in UI differ from API ● Web UIs must be scraped for links ● Direct model monitoring can be used via API for brand mentions ● Very aggressive anti-bot / anti-scraping measures are in place

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State of the industry in Gen AI search monitoring ● Monitoring Gen AI is more expensive with fewer players ● Achieve scale by combining Google + Bing with Gen AI monitoring ● Focus Gen AI monitoring on priority queries ● The future lies with platforms that can do both

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Come visit our booth! Speakerdeck.com/raygrieselhuber @raygrieselhuber x.com/demandsphere linkedin.com/in/raygrieselhuber