Why I’m Betting Everything on AI Search (And Why You Should Too)
Why I’m Betting Everything on AI Search (And Why You Should Too)
Written by Garrett Nann, Co-Founder of POP Advertising Partners
Two years ago, if you told me the biggest threat—and opportunity—to paid advertising wasn’t TikTok, privacy changes, or iOS updates, I would have laughed.
Today I’m not laughing. I’m reallocating 100% of our new client budget and internal R&D into one thing: AI Search.
Not “SEO for ChatGPT.” Not “let’s sprinkle some schema and hope Perplexity notices us.” I’m talking about the complete re-architecture of lead generation around the new reality that your next customer is asking Grok, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity a question… and never clicking through to Google at all.
The Data Doesn’t Lie Anymore
Perplexity alone is doing over 500 million queries per month and growing 30% MoM.
ChatGPT Search is now default for hundreds of millions of users.
Google’s own traffic referrals to publisher sites dropped another 18% in Q3 2025.
41% of 18–34-year-olds start product or service research inside an AI tool (SparkToro, 2025).
Your perfect prospect is no longer typing “solar installation near me” into Google and clicking the top three ads. They’re typing “best solar companies in Austin 2025 reddit reviews included” into Grok and getting a 400-word answer with three bullet-point recommendations… and your company isn’t one of them.
That’s not a small problem. That’s an extinction-level event for any agency or advertiser still playing by 2023 rules.
How AI Search Actually Works in 2025 (Most People Still Get This Wrong)
AI answers are not built like traditional SERPs. They are built like a credibility contest judged in real time:
Entity Authority – Does the internet collectively agree that Garrett Nann / POP Advertising Partners knows what they’re talking about?
Citation Density – How many fresh, authoritative sources mention you in the context of the question being asked?
Recency + Depth – Is there new, detailed, data-backed content published in the last 30–90 days?
User Signals – Are people sharing, bookmarking, or upvoting the content the AI is pulling from?
Win those four variables and you don’t just rank—you get quoted verbatim, linked, and recommended as the default answer.
That’s exactly what we’ve been doing at POP Advertising Partners for the last nine months… quietly.
The Early Results (Yes, Real Numbers)
One home-services client went from zero AI mentions to the #1 cited company for “best [service] in [city] 2025” across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini in under 90 days.
A B2B SaaS client is now the default answer for their core keyword in Claude and Grok—organic demo requests up 312% with zero additional ad spend.
Our own agency site (popadpartners.com) is already the top-cited source for “high-intent buyer data Meta ads” in three out of four major AI tools.
We’re not waiting for the “AI SEO” industry to figure this out in 2026 or 2027. We’re building the playbook right now.
What’s Coming Next (And Why I’m All-In)
In the next 12 months we are rolling out:
The first done-for-you AI Search Dominance program for agencies and lead-gen companies
Proprietary press + data syndication networks that feed AI models exactly what they crave
Real-time AI visibility dashboards (think Ahrefs, but for Grok answers)
Zero-click lead capture inside AI responses (yes, it’s possible and already working in beta)
If you’re a business owner or agency reading this and you still think “AI search is just another Google update,” you’re going to feel the same pain that people felt when they ignored mobile in 2012 or Facebook ads in 2016.
The train has left the station. The good news? There are still first-class seats available… but not for long.
Want to be the default answer when someone asks an AI who the best [your industry] company in [your city] is?
Let’s talk before your competitor does.
Garrett Nann Co-Founder & Head of AI Search Strategy POP Advertising Partners popadpartners.com
P.S. If you want to see exactly how many times you’re currently being mentioned (or ignored) inside Grok, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude right now, reply or DM me the phrase “AI Audit” and I’ll run a free scan for you this week. No pitch, just the raw truth.
