In this Kitchen Side episode, Alex Birkett, Allie Decker, and David Khim unpack the increasingly noisy world of AI search (GEO/AEO), including spam tactics, flawed attribution models, and widespread confusion around what actually drives results.

They explore why visibility without revenue is a trap, how brand sentiment and off-page signals shape AI outputs, and why trust, positioning, and human validation are becoming more important than ever in B2B buying decisions.

Key Takeaways

The SEO vs AEO debate is largely unproductive and distracts from creating real business value.
Spammy, short-term tactics are resurging in AI search due to a “gold rush” mindset.
Many teams optimize for visibility and citations without tying efforts back to revenue or pipeline.
Attribution in AI search is messy, and many current tracking methods are fundamentally flawed.
Large datasets in AEO research can be used to justify almost any strategy or narrative.
Talking directly to customers is still more valuable than inferred data or prompt tracking.
There is a growing tension between experience-based judgment and rapid experimentation with AI.
AI search compresses information, making brand narrative and sentiment more influential than ever.
Visibility is only the first step; positioning and how a brand is described matter more.
AI search is increasingly overlapping with online reputation management (ORM).
Larger brands face greater risk from sentiment manipulation and lack of narrative control.
Off-page signals like reviews, PR, and community discussions heavily influence AI outputs.
Review sites and categorization accuracy can significantly impact visibility and positioning.
Reddit is becoming influential but requires authentic engagement rather than manipulation.
AI-driven discovery is often validated through peer recommendations before purchase decisions.

Show Links

Connect with David Khim on LinkedIn and Twitter
Connect with Alex Birkett on LinkedIn and Twitter
Connect with Allie Decker on LinkedIn and Twitter
Connect with Omniscient Digital on LinkedIn or Twitter

What is Kitchen Side?

One big benefit of running an agency or working at one is you get to see the “kitchen side” of many different businesses; their revenue, their operations, their automations, and their culture.

You understand how things look from the inside and how that differs from the outside.

You understand how the sausage is made.

As an agency ourselves, we’re working both on growing our clients’ businesses as well as our own. This podcast is one project, but we also blog, make videos, do sales, and have quite a robust portfolio of automations and hacks to run our business.

We want to take you behind the curtain, to the kitchen side of our business, to witness our brainstorms, discussions, and internal dialogues behind the public works that we ship.

Past guests on The Long Game podcast include: Morgan Brown (Shopify), Ryan Law (Animalz), Dan Shure (Evolving SEO), Kaleigh Moore (freelancer), Eric Siu (Clickflow), Peep Laja (CXL), Chelsea Castle (Chili Piper), Tracey Wallace (Klaviyo), Tim Soulo (Ahrefs), Ryan McReady (Reforge), and many more.

Some interviews you might enjoy and learn from:

Actionable Tips and Secrets to SEO Strategy with Dan Shure (Evolving SEO)

Building Competitive Marketing Content with Sam Chapman (Aprimo)

How to Build the Right Data Workflow with Blake Burch (Shipyard)

Data-Driven Thought Leadership with Alicia Johnston (Sprout Social)

Purpose-Driven Leadership & Building a Content Team with Ty Magnin (UiPath)

Also, check out our Kitchen Side series where we take you behind the scenes to see how the sausage is made at our agency:

Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean SEO

Should You Hire Writers or Subject Matter Experts?

How Do Growth and Content Overlap?

Connect with Omniscient Digital on social:

Twitter: @beomniscient

Linkedin: Be Omniscient

Listen to more episodes of The Long Game podcast here:

https://beomniscient.com/podcast/

Kitchen Side: The GEO Gold Rush Problem

The Long Game

Kitchen Side: The GEO Gold Rush Problem