About this episode

Brad Wetherall discusses the transformative impact of AI on search engines and how corporations must adapt to digital discovery.

Search is no longer just a destination. It is becoming an intelligent decision layer. In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden speaks with Brad Wetherall, former Google executive, about one of the biggest shifts facing CEOs, CMOs and growth leaders today: the move from traditional SEO to AI-mediated discovery and generative engine optimisation. Brad spent more than a decade at Google working across platforms including Google Business Profile, Google Shopping, Google Wallet and Google Domains. He brings an insider view on a critical question: when AI becomes the first interface between customers and your brand, will your organisation still be visible, credible and chosen? For years, businesses competed for search ranking. Win the top result and you won attention. But AI search is changing the rules. Customers now receive AI-generated summaries, recommendations and direct answers without always clicking through to a website. In a zero-click world, the real contest is shifting from page position to machine-readable authority. Brad explains why this matters now. AI overviews, conversational search and agent-led discovery are compressing the customer journey. At the…

People in this episode

Host: Sabine VanderLinden

Guest: Brad Wetherall

Topics covered

• AI Search
• Agentic AI
• Digital Discovery
• SEO
• Corporate Strategy
• Digital Visibility

Keywords

• AI
• search engines
• digital visibility
• SEO
• agentic AI
• corporate strategy
• neural networks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Google, Esquire Digital

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