Meet Ayush Poddar, GTM strategist and founder, who has spent nearly a decade building and scaling go-to-market strategies across SaaS, marketplace, and services businesses. From launching 4 bootstrapped companies to now helping 150+ founders refine their GTM playbooks, Ayush brings a unique perspective on what actually moves the needle in AI-powered marketing.

In this episode of The Marketing Couch, Ayush shares the real tactical approach to transforming traditional SEO strategies for the AI era—and why most marketers are still playing by outdated rules that won't work in 2025.

What you'll learn

🔸 The AI search transformation: How AEO and GEO are reshaping content discovery beyond traditional SEO

🔸 Live AI prompt demonstrations: Exact prompts to audit and optimize your content for answer engines

🔸 The content structure framework: Why 90% of existing content fails AI readability tests

🔸 Search intent evolution: From keyword stuffing to intent-based optimization that AI actually understands

🔸 The AEO vs GEO playbook: When to optimize for direct answers vs generative citations

🔸 Content audit using AI: Step-by-step process to identify optimization opportunities in your existing assets

🔸 The technical SEO foundation: Why traditional fundamentals still matter in an AI-driven world

🔸 Future-proofing your content strategy: Building assets that work across search engines and AI platforms

🔸 Common optimization mistakes: What kills your chances of getting featured in AI-powered results

Where to find Ayush Poddar

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayushpoddar-62b7b35b

• StartupGTM Newsletter: https://startupgtm.substack.com/

Where to find Jaydip Sikdar

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaydipsikdar/

• X: https://x.com/jaydipsikdar

• The Marketing Couch: www.youtube.com/@jaydipsikdar

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:19 The Shift from Traditional Search to AI-Driven Search

00:03:36 The Evolution of Zero-Click Searches

00:05:56 The Role of SEO in an AI-Driven World

00:08:15 Content Strategy for Startups in the AI Era

00:10:39 Optimizing Content for AI and SEO

00:13:15 Understanding AEO and GEO

00:15:36 Practical Steps for Marketers

00:17:53 Common Mistakes in SEO and AI Optimization

00:20:17 Insights from the Newsletter and Prompt Engineering

00:32:38 The Shift to Long-Form Storytelling

00:33:51 Evaluating Content for AI and SEO

00:35:50 Prioritizing Content for Optimization

00:36:55 Generating FAQs and Snippets

00:37:35 Customizing Prompts for Different Use Cases

00:40:08 Understanding Search Intent and Queries

00:42:35 Leveraging Competitor Analysis for Content

00:46:00 Structuring Content for AI Readability

00:48:50 Technical SEO Best Practices

00:50:45 The Evolving Role of Marketers

Referenced

• StartupGTM Newsletter SEO-AEO-GEO editions:

Part 1: https://startupgtm.substack.com/p/playbook-transform-seo-content-to

Part 2: https://startupgtm.substack.com/p/get-visibility-in-chatgpt-perplexity

• Google AI Overviews: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/13236907

• Perplexity AI: https://www.perplexity.ai/

• ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/

• Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com/

• SEMrush: https://www.semrush.com/

About The Marketing Couch Podcast

The Marketing Couch brings you real conversations with B2B marketing leaders, sales leaders, product leaders, customer success leaders, and founders who share what actually works beyond the theory.

For inquiries about the podcast, contact [email protected].

This Marketing video is part of 'The Marketing Couch' podcast series. Subscribe if you are a B2B Marketer, want to grow your career in B2B marketing, B2B Sales, Product Marketing, Startup Marketing, AI Marketing, or if you want to keep track of the latest trends in B2B Marketing, or you are a startup founder and are figuring out where and how to start marketing.

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