Conductor

DemandMore is hosting an exciting webinar on the future of search, featuring an expert panel including our very own Conductor, Patrick Reinhart, VP of Services and Thought Leadership.    Search is changing fast. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini… they’re not just chatbots anymore, they’re answer engines. People aren’t scrolling through ten blue links, they’re asking one question and getting one answer. The brands that show up will win the next decade. This webinar breaks down what this massive shift means and more importantly, what to do about it. The panel will feature Andy Blewden and Wes Parker from DemandMore and Imogen Davies, Malte Landwehr and Patrick Reinhart as guest speakers. You'll hear directly from the leaders who are right at the front line of this change and have the opportunity to ask your questions live. 🗓 Tuesday, November 18 🕑 9 AM ET Here are the key takeaways you'll get: 💡 ✅ How ChatGPT and other AI engines actually decide what to show ✅ What you can do to make your brand more visible in agentic search ✅ The early playbook marketers are using to get ahead of the competition 📈 👉 Save your seat: https://lnkd.in/e7d37X7V

ICYMI ‼️ - Conductor published this excellent recap of Garth O'Brien, Evan Finkelstein, Chase Kreuter, and my panel from C3 last month. https://lnkd.in/eNvJkMcS I'd love to hear my network's perspective on my hot takes: 🚨 Clicks are a little bit dead from a reporting perspective. 🚨 Keyword monitoring is still important to get those directional insights to flesh out your strategy. Favorite soundbite from the session: Garth's comment about not wanting to become the Kodak or Blockbuster of Search. Grateful to my digital marketing leadership team at UPMC (Shelley Marshall, especially) for the encouragement to attend and speak on the panel!

In the last five months, Seth Besmertnik has spoken to more Fortune 500 leaders than ever before, and one question dominates the conversation: “Should we just leapfrog SEO and go straight to the AI stuff?” His answer is a resounding NO. The core principle that drives success hasn't changed in 15+ years: Know what your customers are looking for, and give them a great digital experience via content. AI is an amplifier, not a substitute. If you're abandoning foundational SEO to chase the shiny new object, you're missing the point. Focus on the customer first. Always.

Good news! Anyone that missed Conductor's C3 conference can catch up on my talk with Sam Billetdeaux about creating quality content at speed. The team at Conductor wrote up a detailed recap and included the recording of the session. Check it out and let me know what you think! https://lnkd.in/g8hPhVXz

How does your AI referral traffic stack up against competitors? We analyzed 100M+ prompts and data from 10,000+ enterprise websites — and the results are in. 💡 AI traffic may only make up ~1% of total visits, but it’s twice as likely to convert as any other source. 💬 ChatGPT drives 90%+ of all AI referral traffic. 📈 AI citations and mentions are quickly becoming the new SEO metrics that matter most. Join Shannon Vize, Sr. Content Marketing Manager, and Patrick Reinhart Reinhart, VP of Services & Thought Leadership, for an exclusive first look at our 2026 AEO / GEO Benchmarks Report — the definitive data on how AI answer engines are reshaping the digital landscape. 🗓 Wednesday, November 12 🕑 2 PM ET | 11 AM PT You’ll learn how to: ✅ Quantify your AI opportunity with real benchmarks from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and more ✅ Focus on high-quality traffic that converts 2X better than traditional sources ✅ Benchmark your performance against industry leaders across 10 industries and 22 subindustries ✅ Use data-driven insights to shape your 2026 digital strategy 👉 Save your seat: https://lnkd.in/ed2sPBeR

In PRWeek's latest feature, Peter Himler explores how AI models like ChatGPT are quietly becoming the new editors of the internet — determining which brands show up (and which don’t). As Seth Besmertnik, put it at C3 this year: “ChatGPT crawls websites roughly 60,000 times and sends back just one visitor. The implication: website traffic has become the wrong success metric.” That single insight captures the shift happening across digital marketing and PR. The physics of the web have changed — we’ve entered the era of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), where visibility isn’t about clicks, it’s about citations and authority in AI-driven results. Seth’s perspective reframes what success looks like for brands: ✅ Focus on content quality over volume ✅ Prioritize citation-worthiness — being the trusted source AI references ✅ Invest in authority building, not just link building At Conductor, this is exactly what we’re helping brands do: understand how AI surfaces information and create content that earns visibility in this new ecosystem. If you’re still optimizing for old metrics like sessions and impressions, it’s time to rethink. The goal isn’t just to be seen — it’s to be cited when AI answers your audience’s questions. 🔗 Read the full PRWeek article: “Meet the new gatekeepers: Why AI algorithms are your brand’s new editors.” https://lnkd.in/eZ3geauJ

Here's a piece I penned for PRWeek. It addresses how we, as #PR pros, need to rethink the branded content we create (and generate) to gain a bigger footprint in the #LLMs. A shout out to Conductor's Seth Besmertnik, Eric Schwartzman, Sarah Evans, Muck Rack's Natan Edelsburg, #theInformation's Catherine Perloff, and Josh Blyskal for their insights. #AEO #GEO #AI #contentmarketing

I had the immense privilege of being on site with the marketing team at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital this week. It’s always incredible to work with organizations driving meaningful change, and St. Jude is truly in a league of its own. They are leveraging Conductor to ensure their mission—finding cures and saving children—reaches every person who needs to see it. This week, we talked about the future of AI-powered search and how to continue winning in the evolving search landscape. Being there, you realize the results we help them achieve represent more awareness, more donations, and ultimately, more lives impacted. Huge thanks to the entire St. Jude team--- Kristen Hendricksen Shannon Seaton Joe H. and many more-- for being incredible partners and for the truly life-changing work you do every single day.

Really excited to see the takeaways from our Conductor C3 panel turned into this article on unifying AEO/GEO, and SEO strategies with Jessie Henry, Garth O'Brien, and Chase Kreuter. It’s exciting to see how the foundations of SEO continue to evolve as discovery platforms change, and I loved collaborating with this team to bring these ideas to life! As I noted during the discussion, a lot of the core SEO tactics still work for AI Search Optimization. The core fundamentals are the same; it’s just a new platform, and one that we can optimize for. Check it out if you’re curious about how AI Search, and SEO can work together: https://lnkd.in/ey49aA_H

I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Knotch's client and partner, Jennifer Griffin Smith (She/Her), CMO at Acquia to talk about how AI is evolving the customer journey and what that means for your website. A few takeaways from our conversation: The customer journey has changed: Traditional linear funnels are obsolete. Customers now engage with multiple touchpoints across channels in non-linear ways, requiring full-funnel visibility. LLM traffic is less predictable: Users arriving from AI-powered search take less predictable journeys than traditional SEO traffic. While it still represents a relatively small piece of overall traffic, understanding these non-linear paths is critical. LLM traffic converts faster: Users coming from LLMs are further along in their journey and convert at higher rates—about twice the rate of other site traffic and in about half as many sessions. Content must prove its worth: Every piece of content—from brand stories to product pages—needs to demonstrate measurable impact on the customer journey and business outcomes. Shift the executive conversation: Reframe AI discussions from cost-cutting to growth and productivity. A 10% increase in growth beats a 20% reduction in costs every time. Unified strategy wins: Break down silos between SEO, content, and experience teams. Success requires connecting visibility data with journey analytics and content performance. You an read the full recap here: https://lnkd.in/etc-gw5v Thank you to Conductor for the chance to be on stage at C3! #SEO #AEO #GEO #ContentMarketing #DigitalMarketing