107: Using Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to Win the AI Search Race with Cole Casperson

**Cole Casperson** (0:00)
AI is better at putting the right products in front of the right customers.

**Chris Daigle** (0:03)
Are you seeing that Google searches are now being also influenced because more people are using the large language models?

**Cole Casperson** (0:10)
People are not using Google search less. They're just using AI models more.

**Chris Daigle** (0:14)
But Cole, obviously you've got tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars that you guys have tested and spent on SEO. But this is not just SEO with new tools, is it?

**Cole Casperson** (0:24)
No, it's really a new paradigm. Google itself is actually changing behind the scenes. For the last two decades, search has averaged three words. Now with AI, people are loving this ability to navigate based on meaning and that's the big difference. Queries are now 16 words long and voice queries are now 29 words long.

**Chris Daigle** (0:43)
What about the companies that are on here? They're not selling on Amazon, they're not selling e-commerce. Does GEO matter to them?

**Cole Casperson** (0:49)
Yeah, totally. AI discovery isn't just a retail problem, but it's a buyer behavior problem. But with AI, if you are not early on in making content easily and substantially understood by these large language models, you're probably going to fall behind in the same way that other brands fell behind 30 years ago.

**Chris Daigle** (1:07)
Cole Casperson is a leading voice in AI-powered marketing and Chief Data Officer at CrankTank. He helps brands understand how AI is transforming search, e-commerce and customer discovery, showing companies how to get found when buyers ask AI what to trust. Welcome to Using AI at Work. I'm your host, Chris Daigle. Each week, we'll be learning how today's business owners, entrepreneurs and ambitious professionals are getting more done with smart use of tomorrow's tech. Let's get started. Right now, every business leader is asking the same question. What are we going to do about AI? If this is you, chiefaiofficer.com has the answer. We'll give you a simple path forward where we provide executive and team training so your people know exactly how to safely use generative AI in their day-to-day.
We also manage the deployment and implementation to make sure tools actually get adopted and deliver results.
We'll also guide company-wide transformation, so AI becomes part of your operating system, not just another shiny object. The companies that act now will increase productivity, cut costs and grow faster than their competitors. Those that wait will get left behind. So if you want to make AI work in your business, visit chiefaiofficer.com and see how we're helping companies of all sizes finally get results from AI. Welcome back to another episode of Using AI at Work. My name is Chris Daigle. I'm the host of Using AI at Work. And today our guest is Cole Casperson. And Cole, we're gonna be talking about how they're doing pretty sophisticated stuff with AI and marketing.
Cole's currently the chief data officer and a partner at a company called Crank Tank. And they reached out to me saying, hey, I think we've got some stuff that would be of interest to your audience. I got on the phone with them, had a great conversation before we, for today, and they're in a really cool niche. They're certainly world-class marketers, primarily focused on e-commerce, digital commerce, those sorts of things. But for the outdoor sports industry, mountain biking, skiing, things like that. So regardless of what your industry is though, today we're going to be talking about how an expert level marketer that's dealing with well-known brands, how they're thinking about AI in the full-stack marketing spectrum, how they are seeing the impact of it, and what they would suggest your company does, what your company doesn't do, and just really give you professionals opinion on where you should be leveraging Generative AI in your marketing. So Cole, awesome to have you on the show. Thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to share this stuff with our audience and say hello.

**Cole Casperson** (3:42)
Awesome. Thanks for having me, Chris. Yeah, I look forward to having a nice conversation here.

**Chris Daigle** (3:46)
Yeah. So let me ask you, Cole, what had you guys reach out to us about being on the podcast?

**Cole Casperson** (3:55)
Yeah. Well, we liked some of your shows. I liked your Bruce Clay episode, obviously, as a marketer.

**Chris Daigle** (4:01)
Yeah.

**Cole Casperson** (4:01)
When Bruce Clay talks, you listen.
Yeah. We've just had so many of our clients and so many auxiliary conversations, even conversations with other agencies about AI. It just feels like in some form or fashion, everybody out there had an AI itch to scratch.