As brand SERPs give way to AI-generated profiles, SEOs must rethink visibility, trust, and reputation for a new era of search and strategy.

More than a decade ago, I coined the term brand SERP – the result you get when someone searches for your name or company.

I called it the “digital business card” because I saw firsthand how a messy one could cost a business trust and revenue.

That idea shaped how many people think about online reputation and visibility, but the landscape has shifted again.

\In the age of assistive and conversational AI – from ChatGPT to Perplexity to Google AI – a new and far more powerful asset has emerged: the AI resume.

Unlike a brand SERP, which reflects what Google shows, the AI resume reveals what the machines themselves understand about your brand.

It’s a living, synthesized profile that influences how prospects, investors, and even journalists perceive you – and it’s quickly becoming central to brand-first digital marketing.

The great miscalculation: Your brand is not a ‘navigational query’

For years, many in SEO made a critical miscalculation.

They treated an exact-match brand search as a low-priority “navigational query.”

The user’s goal, they argued, was simple: find the website.

The brand SERP was just a signpost.

I always disagreed. Even in those moments, the user was researching, checking, and evaluating. The brand SERP has always been about money and reputation.

Now, in the age of AI, that debate is over.

Generative engine optimization (GEO), or as I call it, AI assistive engine optimization (AIEO), is all about brand.

The brand SERP – and its successor, the AI resume – are no longer just signposts but central to your digital marketing strategy.

This AI-generated summary of who you are in these new engines is:

• The money-making “zero-sum moment” in AI that defines the bottom of your acquisition funnel (your money and reputation).
• An interactive “conversational rabbit hole,” not a static snapshot (the new risk).
• The new foundation of your AIEO strategy and the ultimate KPI for all brand-first marketing (your strategy).

Let’s look at what this means in practice.

1. The new ‘zero-sum moment’ for high-stakes due diligence

Your AI resume is the ultimate bottom-of-the-funnel asset because it’s consulted by your most important, A-list audience at the exact moment of decision.

This is the new AI-driven due diligence – or reputation check, if you prefer – performed by:

• Potential clients before signing a proposal.
• Investors before wiring funds.
• Business partners before agreeing to a joint venture.
• Journalists vetting you as an expert source.
• Top-tier candidates deciding if they want to work for you.

In these critical moments, this A-list audience isn’t just looking for your website. They’re conducting research – and the AI is their influential research assistant.

2. An interactive ‘conversational rabbit hole,’ not a static snapshot

Here’s something most people don’t think about: their AI resume isn’t a static document – it’s the beginning of a conversation.

Unlike a brand SERP, which users scan before clicking away, an AI-generated answer is a destination in itself.

But it’s a destination that actively invites you to go deeper. That’s the real danger of the “conversational rabbit hole.”

After delivering its initial summary, the AI will generally suggest follow-up questions such as:

• “Elaborate on how Jason Barnard’s company, Kalicube, helps businesses manage their online reputation using AI.”
• “What are some key strategies for optimizing a brand SERP?”
• “Tell me more about his book.”

Each of these prompts sends your prospect deeper down a rabbit hole of information that the AI synthesizes from your entire digital footprint.

AI will surface inconsistencies, outdated information and negative feedback.

You can’t hide – and a simple brand name query can quickly escalate into a brand crisis.

Your brand SERP was a simple snapshot.

Your AI resume is an interactive, explorable, and potentially infinite deep dive into your entire history, with the AI acting as a tour guide.

Note: “People also ask” is the current brand SERP proto-rabbit hole that you should already be optimizing for.

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3. The new foundation of your GEO and digital strategy (and the ultimate KPI for the C-suite)

Brand is the centerpiece of GEO – or AI assistive engine optimization.

The AI resume represents the algorithm’s fundamental “opinion” of your brand.

This is more than a machine’s calculation.

Algorithms provide a brutally honest reflection of how the world – and your clients – perceive you, synthesized from your entire digital footprint, both off-site and on-site.

To make your brand truly meaningful as a digital business asset, a strong AI resume must be earned through authenticity – not tricks to game the system.

If it’s built on reality, it becomes evidence of a solid, consistent brand presence across the web over time – a winning, long-term strategy no matter what comes next (hint: AI assistive agents).

Your AI resume is now your most important marketing asset.

It represents your entire digital strategy in one easy-to-understand, at-a-glance KPI – with a more subtle, conversational KPI revealed when you track the “rabbit hole” that follows.

From foundation to KPI: Aligning brand, strategy, and the business

This new reality makes the AI resume the ultimate KPI – one that unites the business around three mission-critical objectives:

• **It’s the core of your AIEO strategy: **AI assistive engine optimization is all about brand, and the AI resume is the signal that your online brand strategy is solid. You can’t build a stable house on a cracked foundation – and a strong AI resume proves yours is sound.
• **It unifies your entire marketing team: **This KPI pulls everyone in the same direction. PR, content, and social teams all contribute to one measurable goal – building an AI resume that’s positive, accurate, and convincing.
• It’s the primary defense for your company’s most valuable asset – its brand: A precision-engineered AI resume is more than marketing; it’s insurance. It mitigates risk, protects deals at the BoFu zero-sum moment, and controls the “conversational rabbit hole” to prevent reputational damage.

This is why brand represents a career-defining opportunity for SEOs. The person who owns this asset will be the most influential in the room.

Get this right, and you become the strategic advisor who can walk into the C-suite with a meaningful, executable plan.

One that wins for humans – a clear, helpful narrative – and wins for algorithms – a consistent, machine-readable curriculum.

It also provides insurance for the CEO’s most valuable asset: the brand.

By leading a brand strategy built for algorithms, you become the guardian of the brand’s future.

This is your legitimate, undeniable reason to seize a place at the top table and earn the ear of the CEO.

It’s time to move beyond traditional metrics tied to the website-keyword-link era, when SEO was “just another channel.”

And while you’re at it, take the seat you deserve at the C-level table.

Your next step: Map the new strategic landscape

Now that you understand why the AI resume is your new mandate, the next step is to map the terrain.

The emerging landscape of AI-driven research is defined by three modes of discovery – explicit, implicit, and ambient – that are reshaping how people and algorithms evaluate brands.

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Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. Contributor was not asked to make any direct or indirect mentions of Semrush. The opinions they express are their own.

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About the Author

Jason Barnard is a serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, acclaimed keynote speaker, and award-winning innovator. He’s the CEO and founder of Kalicube, a premium Digital Branding Consultancy in France and the United States. Jason specializes in personal brand intelligence, giving business leaders control over how decision-makers perceive them on Google and AI when million-dollar decisions are at stake.