Google just broke SEO. Here’s what replaces it. | Equity Podcast

Google I/O made it official: AI-generated answers are now front and center in search, and most brands have almost no visibility into how AI is describing them to their customers. For anyone who has spent years building a strategy around 10 blue links, the rules just changed in a pretty significant way.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Matt Thompson, VP of partnerships at Scrunch, a startup positioning itself at the center of the AI search shift, to talk about what Google’s changes mean and marketers and founders should actually do about it.

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Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:15 Why Google is going all-in on AI search

03:25 Meet Scrunch

09:00 Personalized agents, shopping, and Google’s advantage

12:13 What advertisers need to track now

13:48 How websites become “agent ready”

15:34 AI search vs. traditional SEO

22:33 “Scrunching” webpages down for AI agents

23:47 Google’s SEO guidance vs. Scrunch’s approach

27:17 Why unique human content still matters

28:51 Advice for startups adapting to AI search

29:52 Outro