Get Discovered by Prerender.io AI is Much Bigger Than We Think: Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite Agency
Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite, works with some of the largest organizations in tech: Adobe, Notion, Webflow, and more. He's an adjunct professor at Reforge, teaching SEO and AEO to some of the brightest minds in the industry. And he's one of the biggest voices in SEO online.
Ethan joins the Get Discovered podcast to share his knowledge, discuss Graphite's extensive database of proprietary research, and provide tangible tips on what brands can do now to optimize their presence in AI search.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why AI is 4 to 5x bigger than published data suggests
- The biggest differences between AEO and SEO
- The most common misconceptions that are costing marketing teams
- Why “just focus on Reddit” is bad advice
- The issue with your help center content
- What product-focused content actually drives AI citations
- How to measure AI search visibility without a data science team
- How brands can show up authentically on Reddit without getting banned
Ethan also walks through his 5% framework, why most of your SEO work is probably wasted, and how to reshuffle your efforts to maximize your impact.
Chapters:
- 00:19 - Welcome to Get Discovered
- 07:48 - Is AEO actually different from SEO?
- 09:58 - Misconceptions marketing leaders are holding onto
- 13:38 - The markdown myth (and other technical misconceptions)
- 17:44 - Introducing the 5% framework
- 18:02 - Strategies that actually drive results (and why most work is wasted)
- 21:26 - How to win on Reddit
- 31:16 - How to measure AI search discovery
- 43:42 - Final takeaway: do your own research, and validate everything
- 47:12 - Monday Morning Action: audit your help center content
Resources and links:
- Connect with Ethan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanls/
- The Graphite blog: https://graphite.io/five-percent
- The Get Discovered podcast hub: https://prerender.io/podcast
- About Prerender: www.prerender.io
About the show:
Get Discovered is a podcast from Prerender.io where AI and online discoverability collide. Season 2 explores how AI is changing where discovery happens, what actually gets surfaced, and why so many teams are realizing they don't have the visibility or control they thought they did.
New episodes drop weekly. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen.
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0rzmrAPI063Y0LYpHipII8
🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-discovered-by-prerender-io/id1840604392
🎧 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Prerender
🎧 About the show: https://prerender.io/podcast