As Google rolls out AI‑powered summaries at the top of search results, we’re seeing clicks on traditional blue links evaporate—and with them, the traffic and revenue models we’ve all relied on.

Kevin Indig and his team recently completed the very first large‑scale UX study of Google’s new AI Overviews, revealing how users are actually using the new SERP feature.

Kevin’s team tracked 70 real users across eight search tasks, captured 29 hours of think‑aloud sessions, and coded over 400 AI Overview encounters. They measured scroll depth, click behavior, emotional reactions, and trust signals—data no one else has compiled at this scale.

We’ll dig into what this study reveals about how people actually read AI Overviews, how brands can win—or lose—visibility in this new world, and what every SEO and content strategist needs to do right now to adapt.

Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinindig/ 

Check out Kevin's study: https://www.growth-memo.com/p/the-first-ever-ux-study-of-googles 

Sign up for the Growth Memo Newsletter: https://www.growth-memo.com/subscribe?utm_source=menu&simple=true&next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.growth-memo.com%2Fp%2Fthe-first-ever-ux-study-of-googles 

"Clicks are empty calories, which means that clicks are always just a means to an end... Only 20% of the time does the AIO give participants the final answer. But 80% of the time they clicked on other results, mostly organic results." - Kevin Indig

03:32 - Study design explanation

04:12 - Trust as primary user filter

11:48 - Clicks as "empty calories"

15:42 - Brand mentions vs citations

25:50 - "Answer first content" doesn't work

AI is everywhere. Budgets are tight. Audiences are skeptical. So how do you get people to actually trust your brand—and stick around?

In this episode, Ashley Faus joins us to talk about what trust really looks like in marketing today. We get into how common language like “lead capture” and “MQLs” is working against us, and why rethinking your buyer’s journey—starting with intent and ending with long-term value—can lead to better results.

We also talk about her new book, Human-Centered Marketing, and why building trust isn’t fluffy—it’s a strategic advantage.

Register now to attend live and to receive show notes and a special pre-order bonus from Ashley.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyfaus/

If you'd like to buy Ashley's new book, you can order it here and get 25% off when you use code: KOGANPAGE25

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/why-trust-is-the-fastest-way-to-long-term-roi↗ 

"People trust people like themselves and people buy from people they trust. And so how do you showcase the humans? Which work remains important for the humans to do and having the thoughts and connecting with folks continues to be something that I think even in the age of AI is gonna be more important." - Ashley Faus

08:36 - Why trust is essential for business results

13:58 - The content playground vs. traditional funnel

20:54 - The case against gated content

23:13 - Data-informed vs. data-driven measurement

34:56 - Short vs. long-term content strategy

41:22 - Book discount and final takeaways

How Smart B2B Teams Evaluate, Launch, and Win on New Channels w/ Ryan Nelsen, CMO @ StackAdapt 

Most B2B marketers stick to LinkedIn and Google Ads, but buyers are everywhere. A multi-channel strategy ensures you reach them at the right time, in the right place.

In this episode of The Campaign, Ryan Nelsen, CMO of StackAdapt, joins 97th Floor’s CEO Paxton Gray to break down the Multi-Channel B2B Growth Framework—a step-by-step approach to mapping the buyer’s journey, selecting the right channels, and optimizing ad spend for maximum ROI. Plus, we’ll take you behind the scenes of a real-world campaign and show you exactly how we built and executed a high-performing multi-channel strategy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanelsen 

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/how-smart-b2b-teams-evaluate-launch-and-win-on-new-channels/ 

"It's such a fun time to be a marketer, to start literally the sky's the limit in terms of creativity and the ability to target and measure that." - Ryan Nelsen

06:52 - What spurs brands to add new channels

09:39 - Multi-channel conversion data and results

14:03 - Balancing brand vs. performance marketing

19:42 - Creative digital out-of-home trends

25:09 - How AI is lowering video creation costs

29:10 - Key takeaways for channel expansion

In this episode, we’re joined by Karl Van den Bergh, 2024 Cybersecurity Marketer of the Year and CMO at Illumio, to talk about how marketing leaders can build credibility, keep budgets, and turn uncertainty into a competitive edge.

Karl shares the playbook he used to align marketing with the way sales is measured: building forecasts, hitting targets, and earning trust from even the ever-skeptical CFO. 

We’ll show you how to make the intangible measurable with the one-page marketing plan that maps business goals directly to marketing execution. 

If you’re trying to defend long-term strategy while your executive team needs short-term ROI, this episode will give you the language, framework, and tools to do it.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlvandenbergh 

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/how-to-build-predictable-marketing-the-c-suite-will-bet-on/ 

"If you want to be successful through a downturn and coming out of the downturn, is to take and maintain a long-term perspective... the bigger opportunity actually is to build your brand because the rest of the competition is likely to be doing the same." - Karl Van den Bergh

03:13 - Why CMO is the Hardest C-Suite Role

07:26 - Finding Growth During Economic Downturns

10:07 - Investing in Brand During Recessions

18:20 - Running Marketing Like Sales

26:02 - Marketing Dollars = Sales Investment

28:38 - The One-Page Marketing Plan

22:52 - First-Time CMO Survival Guide

If you’re investing in SEO but not seeing results, your content might be the problem.  

97th Floor’s Head of SEO, Mike Witham, built the Content Consolidation Audit to cut waste, boost rankings, and drive real results. 

In this episode of The Campaign, Mike joins 97th Floor CEO Paxton Gray to break down the audit process and show how consolidation and optimization can have an immediate impact on organic revenue. 

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/how-to-consolidate-optimize-and-finally-see-seo-results/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-o-witham 

"The more content that you produce, the more you're going to stray from your core topic. And the harder it's going to be for crawlers for these LLMs to understand what it is you do." - Mike Witham

02:49 - What content consolidation audit is

07:19 - Benefits of consolidating content

10:20 - How thin content hurts AI visibility

16:42 - When to redirect vs. optimize pages

28:00 - Using Search Console to find problems

32:31 - Evaluating new content strategy

Ready or not, AI is about to radically reshape our work and our lives.

Over the next decade the stuff of sci-fi movies will be just another Tuesday. 

For CEOs and CMOs, understanding these changes and preparing now is critical. 

This isn’t just about adopting new technology—it’s about rethinking the fundamentals of how your business will function in an AI-driven world.

Understanding how AI will impact everything from SEO to advertising enables CMOs to create marketing strategies that can outlast any changes headed this way.

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/ai-is-rewriting-the-economy-what-cmos-ceos-must-do-to-survive/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-haynes 

Google Agent Development Kit

"An agent is an AI tool that can do things for you, that can take action for you... agents can draw on your memory of what it knows about you in order to help you do things." - Marie Haynes

08:51 - What AI agents actually are beyond simple automation

18:16 - Google's agent-to-agent protocol announcement

26:28 - How agents will disrupt Google's entire business model

31:10 - Why businesses should start preparing now for the agent economy

39:35 - The future of SEO when AI handles basic optimization

43:46 - Brain-computer interfaces and what comes after agents

Marketing is more unpredictable than ever—ad costs rise, algorithms change, and audience behaviors shift overnight. But there’s one thing you can control: how effectively you convert the traffic you do get. 

That’s where CRO (conversion rate optimization) becomes your force multiplier—turning uncertainty into opportunity and making every marketing channel more profitable. 

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/how-to-get-more-roi-from-every-marketing-channel-with-cro/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sollis 

"Usually without a doubt the lowest hanging fruit and opportunity to double leads, double revenue really quickly [is conversion optimization]." - Chad Sollis 

03:19 - Chad's 90-day battle plan: data, long-tail, CRO

07:48 - Actionable audience insights through clickstream analysis

14:59 - CRO testing framework: audience (70%), content, creative

19:29 - Accessibility as $8 trillion business opportunity

21:52 - AudioEye's three-pronged accessibility approach

24:05 - How accessibility boosts SEO and GEO

Search is changing fast, and AI is at the center of the disruption. 

With LLMs reshaping SERPs, Google's AI Mode on the horizon, and AI assistants claiming search share, SEOs have more to consider than ever before.

Marie Haynes is an expert SEO and AI Consultant known for her deep expertise in Google’s search algorithms and machine learning systems—including the intricacies of E-E-A-T. Marie is a fearless experimenter who thrives on exploring emerging tech. Now, she’s laser-focused on mastering Google's AI Mode and harnessing the power of LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini to prepare her clients for a future where AI agents revolutionize the web.

Marie joins Paxton Gray to spell exactly what we do and don’t know about changes in search, and what SEOs should do to stay ahead.  

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/ai-search-what-seos-need-to-know-and-do-right-now/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-haynes 

"My barometer for is content good or not is if you took the content on your website and you removed it from the web, would the web be suffering?" - Marie Haynes

03:59 - SEO vs GEO debate: Are they different strategies?

08:22 - Building reputation as key to winning in AI search

13:46 - The decoupling of content and SEO in the AI era

18:01 - Tactical approaches to appear in AI responses

26:50 - Google's AI mode experiment and what to expect

32:03 - How brands can influence their AI representation

Every marketer has felt it—that sinking feeling when organic traffic takes a sudden hit. Maybe it’s an algorithm update, increased competition, or just Google being Google. But what if you didn’t have to live in fear of these swings?  

In this episode, we’re joined by **Eli Schwartz**, SEO expert, consultant, and author of *Product-Led SEO*. With over a decade of experience helping companies like WordPress, Shutterstock, Quora, and Zendesk scale their organic visibility, Eli knows what it takes to build SEO strategies that don’t just survive algorithm changes—but thrive despite them.  

We’ll dive into why traditional SEO tactics are losing their effectiveness, how AI is shifting search behavior, and why focusing on users—not search engines—is the key to long-term organic growth.  

If you’re tired of reactive SEO and want a strategy that stands the test of time, this episode is for you.

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/how-to-avoid-organic-revenue-swings-by-being-user-obsessed-not-google-obsessed/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwartze 

"They don't want content. They want to solve maybe pain, maybe curiosity, but they want to solve something and you solve it with an asset... you're creating for the user, not creating for the search engine." - Eli Schwartz

03:02 - Product-led SEO vs traditional keyword-driven approach

07:00 - GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) vs SEO debate

12:50 - Moving from deliverable-focused to value-driven SEO

16:22 - Why understanding users is crucial for future SEO success

18:43 - How to develop customer empathy beyond personas

23:45 - Balancing expectations while transitioning SEO strategy

Webinars have been a staple in B2B marketing for years, but let’s be honest—most of them are forgettable. 

Attendees tune out, engagement drops, and worst of all, they don’t drive real pipeline. So, what separates a webinar that works from one that flops?

In this episode of The Campaign, we’re breaking down the strategies that keep audiences engaged and, more importantly, move them through the funnel. 

If you’re tired of lackluster webinars that don’t deliver, this conversation is packed with insights to help you rethink your approach.

https://97thfloor.com/articles/podcasts/webinars-that-work-keeping-attendees-engaged-and-moving-down-the-funnel/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattmurdoch 

"When they register, that's the moment of need for them... The company that delivers the value first is the company that's going to win." - Matt Murdoch

02:33 - What inspired the Webinar Manifesto 10+ years ago

06:36 - Common planning mistakes: "Field of Dreams" fallacy

09:13 - Three essential ingredients for successful webinars

11:41 - Virtual accountability framework: verbal, visual, kinesthetic

18:42 - Marketing webinars like rock concerts and leveraging FOMO

22:41 - Live vs on-demand webinars: chocolate vs peanut butter