Fin the Week

This week on Fin the Week, Amelia, Paul and Mayna unpack five stories reshaping search and marketing in financial services: a German court ruling that makes Google liable for its own AI overviews, fresh SparkToro data showing fewer than one in three UK searches now ends in a click, Hiscox stepping into ChatGPT's advertising pilot, what 54 studies reveal about ranking in AI search, and the UK's incoming social media ban for under-16s.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

00:54 A German court has ruled that Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words

09:48 Zero click searches continue to rise

20:53 Hiscox testing advertising in ChatGPT

26:03 Research into AI citation ranking factors

34:27 Discussing the UK under-16 social media ban

46:57 Jargon busters

Mark's just back from UX London, and this week we dig into what financial services marketers can actually use from it.

The headline: stop asking for more research time and start packaging what you already have. We get into validation, falling in love with the problem, not the solution, why failure is a feature of good UX, not a bug, and where AI is genuinely earning its place in the process.

If you run marketing or operations in a finance firm, there's a year's worth of customer insight already sitting in your support inbox and your chatbot logs. We tell you how to find it.

00:00 Introduction to UX London and Event Overview

01:55 What is UK London?

02:41 UX is now a board-level concern in financial services

05:02 Effective Research and Stakeholder Validation

12:28 Using Validation to Drive UX Success

21:04 Using keyword research as a source of user validation

24:15 AI chatbots as a source of user research

26:34 Turning Failure into Opportunity in UX

35:04 A framework for organising content

37:09 How did UK London address AI?

41:22 Key Takeaway: The Power of Validation

44:21 Final Reflections and Future Trends

This week, we look at the concept of a two-track internet, something floated in a recent article in Digiday about work taking place at The Economist.

We dive into the complexities of creating a web environment that caters to both human and AI users, highlighting the need for a strategic shift in website design and content presentation.

Takeaways

• Two-track internet
• AI experience Tone of voice is a trust signal
• AI chatbots may struggle to convey a brand's tone of voice

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Two Track Internet

01:31 The Economist's Case Study on AI and Content

05:41 Exploring AI Experience vs User Experience

08:01 The concept of AIX (AI Experience)

10:59 Designing for Two Different Audiences

16:13 Two-track vs one-track web

25:46 Can AI agents drive trust?

32:03 Navigating Google's Guidelines for Brands

36:43 The Future of AI and Brand Representation

43:03 The Impact of AI on Advertising and Monetisation

Google has published a guide on optimising your website for the AI features in Google Search. On the face of it, that's good news; guidance straight from the horse's mouth. In practice, the guide is weak: written in a vacuum, dodging the traffic problem, treating agentic AI as a footnote, and ultimately telling you "don't worry about it, it's just SEO." We aren't convinced.

Amelia, Paul, Pat and Russell unpack the document section by section: the jargon (SEO, GEO, AEO, AIO), the technical mechanics (RAG and query fan-out, explained with dominoes), the myth-busting section that's caused half the SEO industry to celebrate, and the bit Google glosses over entirely: agentic AI, and the difference between an AI model's training data and what it pulls in through search. Plus what financial services content teams should actually be doing now, including the compliance challenge of disclaimers being clipped out of AI-generated answers.

02:08 Google's New Guidance on Generative AI

05:49 What is an LLM compared to an AI Chatbot?

08:24 RAG (retrieval augmented generation) and query fan out

11:42 Understanding SEO in the Age of AI

14:15 Is structure still important?

22:15 Google's AEO/GEO mythbusting section

27:27 The Evolution of Search: AI and Google

31:26 Trusting Google's Guidance: A Critical Perspective

34:48 Navigating the New Landscape of Content Creation

40:39 Is Google's GEO guide helpful?

41:42 The Future of Financial Services Content

47:53 The Role of Research and Authenticity in Content

50:52 Jargon Busters: Churning

28 million UK adults are now using AI for personal finance. One in three of them every week.

We dig into Lloyds Banking Group's 2025 Consumer Digital Index and what it means for the FS brands trying to stay visible in a world where ChatGPT is doing the top-of-funnel research.

Pat shares what happened when he turned Claude Code loose on a year of bank statements. Russell looks at the UX of trust. Paul plays devil's advocate on the sycophants and the scams. And we tackle the data-privacy question every FS marketer should be asking: when ads land in ChatGPT, what does your bank statement say about you?

Plus: a jargon buster on ETFs.

Takeaways

• AI in personal finance
• Trust and concerns about AI
• Data privacy and security Monetisation through AI advertising
• Impact of AI on financial services brands

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Personal Updates

04:03 - Exploring AI in Personal Finance

08:37 - Trust and Accuracy in AI Financial Advice

16:47 - The Future of AI in Financial Planning

21:00 - Concerns about data privacy & security

26:31 - The Accessibility Challenge of AI Tools

27:25 - Monetisation and Advertising in AI

28:11 - User Experience and Trust in AI

31:13 - Implications for Financial Services Brands

35:11 - The Future of Personal AI Assistants

39:36 - The Race for Personal and Business Assistants

44:05 - Jargon Busters: ETFs

This week we explore the concept of friction in user experience, highlighting its impact on decision-making, user error, and the role of AI-driven systems.

We delve into the balance between speed and convenience, safety, and comprehension, and discuss the potential adoption of AI agents in daily life.

We look at the concept of friction in user experience, highlighting the role of design in mitigating friction and ensuring accessibility. We also explore the challenges in legacy processes, user research, and the impact of AI as a financial advisor on consumer protection.

Takeaways

• Friction in user experience can have both positive and negative impacts.
• The balance between speed and convenience, safety, and comprehension is crucial in the design of AI-driven systems. Friction in user experience
• Accessibility and consumer duty

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction to friction in the user experience

04:10 - The balanace of caution and convenience

09:35 - Designing for user experience

14:23 - AI's impact on user experience

15:40 - Progressive disclosure

17:59 - The future of AI agents in everyday life

27:09 - Consumer Duty and the concept of 'sludge practices'

42:01 - Navigating pension transfers

In this week's episode, we discuss the impact of bad data on AI, highlighting the definition of bad data, examples of bad data in AI, and the risks and challenges associated with bad data.

The conversation delves into the challenges and implications of AI in decision-making, the impact of bias in AI applications, the technical hurdles in AI implementation, the importance of data structure in AI transformation, and the concept of setting guardrails for AI systems.

Takeaways

• AI Tool Preference
• Data Quality and AI
• AI as a Managerial Tool AI and bias
• Data structure and AI
• Friction in AI systems

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Chat GPT Subscription
• 13:36 The Impact of Bad Data on AI
• 26:23 Data Quality and AI Implementation
• 50:57 Understanding 'Whale' in Finance

All of the key takeaways from BrightonSEO Spring 2026.

The episode discusses the impact of AI on SEO, the rise of zero-click marketing, challenges in defining success metrics, and the changing user journey. It also explores the impact of bias in AI, the redefinition of search as media, and the changing marketing funnel.

Takeaways

• AI's impact on SEO
• Challenges in defining success metrics

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Brighton SEO
• 06:18 Impact on Brands and Search Results
• 12:13 Redefining Success Metrics
• 25:38 Impact of Bias in AI
• 32:28 Search as Media
• 37:56 Attribution and Long-Term Thinking

The episode discusses Google's controversial patent application and its potential impact on web search and user experience. It explores concerns, controversies, and the role of AI in reshaping web content, as well as the implications for financial services firms and regulatory concerns. The conversation also delves into positive impacts, risks, understanding the patent application, the Model Context Protocol (MCP), concerns and distrust of Google, the impact on websites and user experience, and future scenarios and accessibility implications. The conversation delves into the impact of AI on website accessibility, quality of input and output, and the challenges faced by small businesses. It also explores the role of SEO schema, privacy concerns, and the concept of a web for humans and a data layer for AI. The discussion concludes with key considerations for brands and a fun segment on jargon busters.

Takeaways

• Google's new patent application and its potential impact on web search and user experience
• Concerns and controversies surrounding Google's patent application
• The role of AI in reshaping web content and user experiences
• The implications of Google's patent application for financial services firms and regulatory concerns Quality content is crucial for better AI output
• Small businesses may face challenges with AI-driven website changes

Chapters

• 00:00 Future Scenarios and Accessibility Implications
• 32:12 Impact on Small Businesses
• 39:43 Privacy Concerns and Data Mining
• 45:08 Key Considerations for Brands

The conversation delves into the impact of AI on the design industry, exploring the essence of design, the changing landscape of graphic design, and the role of AI in UI/UX design. It highlights the challenges and opportunities presented by AI in the field of design. The conversation delves into the role of designers in AI production, client concerns about AI, ethical considerations, client perception and acceptance of AI, focus on outcomes and user engagement, AI in UI design and compliance with regulations, frameworks for accessibility and consumer duty, impact of AI on the job market for designers, and a discussion summary with jargon busters.

Takeaways

• AI's impact on design
• Challenges and opportunities in design with AI Designers possess empathy and understanding towards end users, making them valuable in AI production.
• The use of AI in design raises ethical considerations and the need for transparency with clients.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Setting the Stage
• 06:14 The Essence of Design and the Design Process
• 11:59 The Role of AI in Graphic Design and Client Transparency
• 21:21 The Changing Landscape of Graphic Design and UI/UX Design
• 26:22 The Role of Designers in AI Production
• 32:10 Client Focus on Outcomes and User Engagement
• 38:23 Impact of AI on the Job Market for Designers