The future of SEO & Agentic AI

The future of search isn't search; it's agents. Dr. Marie Haynes tackles the biggest shift facing the web: agentic AI. This episode explores the new wave of agentic browsers like OpenAI's Atlas and Perplexity, the massive implications of Walmart partnering with OpenAI, and the legal battles already beginning. Dr. Haynes maps out a near future where home robots order products without ever seeing a website. What does an SEO or business owner do when the user interface is gone? This is a must-listen for anyone building a career on the web. And OH YEAH, this episode was edited by an app that I created in AI Studio's build feature. It actually worked! Comment here in Marie's community: https://community.mariehaynes.com/posts/drafts/the-future-of-seo-agentic-ai-new-podcast-episode

It was an honour to attend Google I/O in person. Search is changing radically! Google called it a new era of Search with Gemini 2.5 at its core. This podcast episode was recorded live. Stay up to date on AI with my newsletter: https://mariehaynes.com/newsletter Immediate updates on important AI and SEO news in my community, the Search Bar: https://community.mariehaynes.com/spaces/11879397/feed 0:00 – 0:51 Welcome & recap of Google I/O invitation, outline of the live episode’s agenda 0:51 – 1:55 Screen-share setup; meeting Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin anecdotes 2:40 – 4:15 What AI Mode is, why Google may replace “classic” search, and the query fan-out patent 4:15 – 6:02 How clicks train AI Mode; demo showing 59 source sites and the result carousel 7:03 – 9:14 Ethics of Google using web content; E-E-A-T impact on carousel inclusion 9:55 – 12:22 Accuracy, hallucinations, feedback buttons, and why original content matters 14:00 – 17:21 Freshness signals, library analogy for originality, Gemini Live phone demo 17:21 – 27:55 Gemini AR glasses test, personal-context search & privacy implications 32:21 – 35:22 Gemini in Chrome: on-page AI assistance, summarisation, e-commerce concerns 35:22 – 40:47 Project Mariner: browser agents that automate multitab workflows; job impact 40:47 – 43:59 Agent Mode & agent-to-agent checkout; custom charts/graphs in AI Mode 43:59 – 50:52 Deep Search (multi-query research) and uploading your own files for reports 50:52 – 54:42 E-commerce upgrades: “Try it On” virtual fitting, price-tracking, “Buy for Me” with Google Pay, Wing drone delivery 54:42 – 57:00 Gemini V3 multimodal video creation, Flow editor, AI content production costs 57:00 – 60:00 Google’s universal AI assistant vision, coming hardware, and industry upheaval 60:00 – 61:00 Sergey Brin on the web’s unpredictability ten years out; reflections on accelerating change 61:00 – 62:27 Dario Amodei’s forecast of 20 % unemployment from AI; balancing fear with opportunity 62:27 – 63:50 Learning-curve discussion: experiment daily, let Gemini/ChatGPT tutor you step by step 63:50 – 66:00 Question on falling organic clicks: focus on conversions, cite Will Reynolds’ data, report revenue over raw traffic 66:00 – 67:12 Who gets credit—SEO or CRO? Rebranding SEO as AIO/GEO and outlining the evolving practitioner role 67:12 – 68:32 Brand building beyond Wikipedia: podcasts, social presence, authoritative mentions; example of podcast mention boosting AI-overview visibility 68:32 – 69:20 LLMs.txt debate: no major model honors it yet, so implementing it is likely wasted effort 69:20 – 70:10 Server-log analysis of AI bots: seeing ByteDance and others, limited actionable value beyond selective blocking 70:10 – 71:10 Google Agent Space: 100-seat minimum, use cases for large agencies (onboarding, HR, process agents) 71:10 – 72:10 MCP for e-commerce customization tools; preparing your site for future agent-to-agent APIs 72:10 – 73:20 Speculation that many third-party agent frameworks will fade once Google/OpenAI integrate agents natively 73:20 – 74:10 Community learning benefits; SEO skillset as problem-solving edge in the AI era 74:10 – 75:25 Overview of the Search Bar Pro community, tutorials, “happy hour” discussions, member advantages 75:25 – 76:50 Coping with upheaval: lamplighter analogy, choosing optimism, hunting for new opportunities 76:50 – 78:00 Closing remarks: upcoming talks on BCIs and agents 78:00 – 87:08 Final chat exchanges, farewells, and session wrap-up

Google's Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol is here, and it's set to change everything. Announced at Cloud Next 2025, this new standard allows AI agents to talk directly to each other. What does this mean? An internet powered by communicating AI, radical changes for businesses using tools like Agentspace and the Customer Engagement Suite, and a potential upheaval for traditional SEO. I share thoughts about A2A, the Agent Development Kit (ADK), Agent Cards, and why the future of the web might look very different, very soon. More, including links to all of the resources mentioned in my blog post: https://www.mariehaynes.com/googles-agent2agent-protocol-will-radically-change-the-web/ Subscribe to my newsletter for all of the interesting news as AI changes our world: https://mariehaynes.com/newsletter/

Dr. Marie Haynes discusses the future of AI, highlighting the massive investments being made by companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon. She acknowledges concerns about job loss and fear for the future but presents an optimistic vision, quoting Sam Altman and Elon Musk who believe AI will lead to greater prosperity and even a universal high income. Marie details how AI is currently used for tasks like organizing thoughts and image generation, but its true potential lies in AI agents. These agents will research and complete tasks, changing how we interact with the web and businesses. She gives examples of using agents for hotel and flight research and deep research projects. She also talks about using AI for coding and creating tools, sharing her personal experience of developing a tool to analyze website traffic drops. Marie believes AI agents will become like employees, increasing productivity and allowing her to focus on more complex tasks. She envisions AI optimizing businesses in various ways, such as chatbots, competitor research, and IP creation. Marie acknowledges the disruption AI will cause, leading to job losses in digital marketing and other industries. She compares this to historical technological shifts like electricity and the printing press, noting that while there were initial negative consequences and job losses, these technologies ultimately led to progress and new opportunities. She encourages listeners to embrace AI, suggesting they learn to code with AI, stay updated on AI developments, and become experts in AI in specific areas. She also advises sharing their knowledge and learning to communicate effectively with language models (prompting). Haynes believes AI will improve our lives, offering advancements in healthcare, mental well-being, and innovation. She concludes by emphasizing the importance of being part of shaping the future of AI, rather than just watching it happen. Learn to prompt with a weekly email from Marie Haynes: https://www.mariehaynes.com/prompts Marie's AI Newsletter: https://www.mariehaynes.com/newsletter

Is Grok 3 a serious threat to Google? In this LIVE episode of AI News You Can Use Dr. Marie Haynes demonstrates Grok 3 as well as the Deep Research tools from Grok, Gemini and OpenAI. We'll discuss the future of Search and how we can be the leaders of the future as AI changes our world. Join the Search Bar to participate in future epsiodes: https://community.mariehaynes.com/ Marie's Newsletter: https://mariehaynes.com/newsletter/

The January 2025 update of Google's Quality Rater Guidelines had many important changes including sections on: -filler content -paraphrased content -Using AI in content creation -Expired domains -Scaled content abuse This was a live episode of Search News You Can Use filmed in The Search Bar. Buy My 2025 edition of my QRG checklist you can use to assess your site like a quality rater: https://www.mariehaynes.com/products/qrg-workbook-2025/ Join the Search Bar: https://community.mariehaynes.com/

Buckle up for a thrilling dive into the future of AI! This episode of Search News You Can Use uncovers the mind-blowing advancements in AI, from Google's Gemini 2.0 and its vision of AI agents to OpenAI's groundbreaking projects like Sora and ChatGPT Pro. Marie breaks down what quantum computing is and how Google's Willow chip is potentially a big deal. There's so much going on in the AI world right now!

Are Chrome engagement signals used in Google's ranking systems? I'd recommend watching Cindy's video from last week: https://youtu.be/txNT1S28U3M?si=uPi9nz61-1HfJefG Cindy theorized that Google collects all sorts of information from our visits using the Chrome browser. In our talk we discuss whether and how this information could be used in ranking algorithms. Reach Cindy: https://mobilemoxie.com/ https://x.com/Suzzicks Reach Marie: https://mariehaynes.com/contact/ https://community.mariehaynes.com/ - The Search Bar Links mentioned in this episode: The Pandu Nayak testimony: https://thecapitolforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/101823-USA-v-Google-PM.pdf Distributed Representation of Words and Phrases and their Compositionality - Jeff Dean, Ilya Sutskever et al. - Helps explain how vectors in a space are adjusted. Gemini gave me this paper when we were discussing RankBrain.

Here’s a conversation I had with Gemini about how its vector space works and how it adjusts as it learns. It may be possible for us to influence how Gemini represents our business by having more conversations about the things that are good about your business. Hope you find this interesting! (Also omg how many times did I say the word “interesting” in this episode? 😂 The end of this video includes a podcast made by NotebookLM AI podcasters talking about my conversation with Gemini. Here’s a great video I found that taught me a lot about vectors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvobVu1l7GI Here’s NotebookLM https://notebooklm.google.com/ See past podcast episodes https://community.mariehaynes.com/spaces/12946477/feed If you want to learn more about the AI systems used in Search here’s my book, SEO in the Gemini Era: The story of how AI changed Google search https://www.mariehaynes.com/gemini-era-seo/book/ And to go even deeper, here’s my course: https://www.mariehaynes.com/gemini-era-seo/course/ Want to join other people who are excited as me about AI? We’d love to have you in the Search Bar https://community.mariehaynes.com/

Thank you to Adam Szmerling from Bayside Psychotherapy who allowed me to publish our brainstorming session. The first 45 minutes or so of this episode are me sharing how Google’s algorithms have changed. Then, Adam and I look in detail at his competition and his website and discuss how to change it so that it is more likely to meet the needs of his potential clients. Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/K0FVlM7Xmc0 Links Marie’s book, SEO in the Gemini Era, The Story of How AI Changed Google Search https://amzn.to/3WPBg0Z SEO in the Gemini Era course: https://www.mariehaynes.com/gemini-era-seo/course/ Brainstorm with Marie: https://www.mariehaynes.com/work-with-marie/ DOJ vs. Google Pandu Nayak testimony: https://thecapitolforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/101823-USA-v-Google-PM.pdf My blog post on the API files with attributes including Navboost : https://www.mariehaynes.com/what-is-this-leaked-google-code-digging-into-the-api-docs/ Cyrus Shepard’s Moz article on click patents: https://moz.com/blog/click-based-seo-engagement-signals Internal Google email talking about Navboost: https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-11/417828.pdf Google brought new signals into the core algorithm with March core update: https://searchengineland.com/seo-takeaways-google-elizabeth-tucker-smx-advanced-443070 Gemini 1.5 improved Google’s machine learning architecture: https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-gemini-next-generation-model-february-2024/#architecture My course if you’d like to learn more about the AI systems behind search: https://www.mariehaynes.com/gemini-era-seo/course/ Frederic Dubut of Bing talking about how we must switch from keyword research to intent research. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTriTRmEf34 Google’s information gain patent https://patents.google.com/patent/US20200349181A1/en