Search is Changing Fast. Is Your Brand Ready for the Answer Engine Era?

Mar 12, 2026

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Search is changing fast, and AI is at the center of it.

Search is no longer just about blue links and ranking on Google. More and more, people are getting their answers directly from AI tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and other answer engines that summarize information, pull citations, and decide what gets surfaced in real time. That means visibility is changing, and so is the value of content.

In this episode of The Media Copilot, Pete Pachal speaks with Josh Blyskal, who leads answer engine optimization research at Profound, a company focused on tracking how brands appear inside AI generated answers. Their conversation explores what answer engine optimization really means, how it differs from traditional SEO, and why specificity, utility, and structure now matter more than ever.

What We Cover

• The shift from traditional search results to AI generated answers
• What answer engine optimization (AEO) actually means
• How AI tools break prompts into “fan out” searches
• Why specificity and structured content matter more than ever
• The role of citations and consensus in AI responses
• How platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews choose sources
• Why Reddit and user generated content still influence AI answers
• The growing tension between AI discovery and publisher business models
• Opportunities and risks for media organizations in the AI search era

About the 👤 Guest Josh Blyskal

• Website: https://www.joshblyskal.com

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-blyskal

• X: https://twitter.com/joshblyskal

• Speaker Deck: https://speakerdeck.com/joshbly

Learn More About Profound

• https://www.tryprofound.com

About the show: To explore more conversations like this and see what’s new, visit the freshly updated Media Copilot website at mediacopilot.ai. You’ll find new episodes, expanded resources, and tools designed for journalists, communicators, and media leaders navigating the fast-changing world of AI. It’s the home base for everything Media Copilot and it’s just getting started.

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Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
Edited by the Musso Media Team

Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0