Ep 216: From The Google Gravy Train To AI Search
From The Google Gravy Train To AI Search
The Digital Slice Podcast is brought to you by The Friedman Group, LLC
Do you wake up in the middle of the night, wondering if your business is in the #1 position in AI searches?
Join Brad Friedman and Andreas Voniatis as they discuss whether today's SEO playbook is becoming obsolete as people increasingly use AI to research their needs and solutions. They discuss using data science to decode what AI wants to uprank your business everywhere your customers are searching.
Andreas Voniatis is the founder of Artios, helping business leaders in ambitious B2B and technology companies achieve breakthrough website results. He’s the author of Data-Driven SEO with Python and has been featured in Search Engine Watch. By combining advanced math, data science, and proprietary AI, Andreas says he delivers 3–5x more non-brand organic traffic and guarantees a 2x ROI—far beyond what traditional SEO and content marketing can provide.
His journey began when he began thinking that traditional SEO and content marketing were becoming guesswork. Rather than leave the field, he retrained in data science. That shift changed everything — like Neo seeing the Matrix. With Python and new mental models, he began approaching organic growth with scientific precision and scale.
This led to the creation of Artios Technology, an AI system that mines online conversations to model ideal customers. It powers content strategies that connect deeply, rank consistently, and drive real business growth in an AI-first world.
In this Episode:
- Andreas explains that the easy traffic marketers used to get from Google is drying up and being overtaken by zero-click searches and AI results.
- With “empty calorie clicks” vanishing into the “walled gardens” of LLMs (like ChatGPT), Andreas argues that tracking brand searches is now a more vital metric for measuring marketing success than traditional click-throughs.
- Andreas says, for AI to recommend you, your content must be “data-rich” and offer something unique.
- Andreas contrasts the old SEO playbook (writing generic “What is Ransomware?” articles) with the new AI approach (creating reports based on interviews with CTOs). The latter builds trust and gets cited; the former is ignored.
- Andreas also says, a specific strategy to future-proof content is to mine data from forums and online discussions. This aligns your content strategy with the same data sources the LLMs use, increasing the likelihood of passing their “fact-checking” algorithms.
Quotes from this Episode:
“I think most marketers will wholeheartedly agree that the traffic that they were getting from the Google gravy train is drying up extremely fast and is being overtaken by AI search results.” – Andreas Voniatis
“Your content has to be data rich in order to succeed in the AI search era. If your content doesn't have proprietary insights, there's no reason for AI to recommend or prefer you.” – Andreas Voniatis
“It is not that SEO is dead, it is just that traditional SEO is dead. And the SEO best practices that we see today are dead too.” – Andreas Voniatis
“AI does not want to rehydrate by drinking its own sweat.” – Andreas Voniatis
“Stop using keyword tools. Right? And if you want to try and DIY this yourself start data mining forums online.” – Andreas Voniatis
Resources:
Andreas Voniatis:
LinkedIn: Andreas Voniatis
Book: Data-Driven SEO with Python
Website: Artios
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