The Search Wars Have Begun 👀

Welcome, night owls. 🌙

The AI marketing landscape never sleeps, and neither do the opportunities. While most marketers are dreaming, we're here catching the latest breakthroughs that'll shape your tomorrow.

What's brewing tonight:

• Google's AI search hits 1B+ users globally

• Meta's secret search engine project leaked

• Runway's founder on AI's camera moment

• 6 posts worth your late-night read

• 4 AI tools I tested (so you don't have to)

Let’s dive in.

🔍 Google's AI Search Is About to Be Everywhere

The rundown: Google is taking their AI-powered search overviews global, reaching over a billion users monthly. Welcome to SEO 2.0.

The details:

• Rolling out to 100+ countries (up from US-only a few months ago)

• Now works in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Hindi, and Japanese

• Shows source links more prominently, both inline and in a dedicated section

• Early data shows these AI overviews actually increase traffic to websites

• Ad spots are being integrated into the AI overviews (currently mobile-only in US)

• Users are reportedly preferring search with these AI summaries enabled

Why marketers should care: This is basically SEO 2.0. SEO is changing from optimizing for traditional search rankings to making sure your content shows in AI search. When these overviews pull information to answer someone's question, you want your site to be one of the sources they're citing. Hubspot just launched a free AI Search Grader that lets you see how your site performs in these new AI search results - definitely worth checking out to see where you stand. If you're already creating solid, informative content, you're probably in decent shape. Just keep an eye on how your traffic patterns shift as this rolls out.

Read the full story here.

🌐 With Search Changing, Meta Wants a Piece of the Pie

The Rundown: Meta's jumping into the AI search game, building their own engine to break free from Google and Microsoft. But they're not alone - seems like everyone from Apple to OpenAI is trying to grab a piece of the search pie. Let's break down what this means for your marketing plans.

The Details:

• Meta's been quietly working on this for 8 months

• They've already got web crawlers out collecting data

• Just signed a deal with Reuters to use their news content

• Currently, Meta AI (on Instagram and Facebook) uses Google and Bing

• OpenAI just launched SearchGPT 12 hours ago.

• Perplexity AI is very good (but facing some legal heat from publishers)

• Even Apple's showing signs of wanting in on the action

Why marketers should care: We're watching search marketing fragment in real-time. While Google's still the 800-pound gorilla (just look at those traffic numbers - 81 billion monthly visits compared to Perplexity's 72 million), the future of search is looking more fragmented.

And that's actually great news for smart marketers. Why? Early adoption advantage. When these new platforms roll out their ad products, you'll face way less competition and lower costs than on Google. If you're targeting tech-savvy or innovative audiences, getting in early on platforms like Perplexity or Meta's upcoming search could be huge. Everyone knows acquistion is expensive these days, but new platforms always start as a steal.

Read the full story here.

🎬 AI Isn't the Revolution - What We Build With It Is

The Rundown: Runway's founder dropped an incredible tweet about his perspective on AI and the new era of content. The real revolution? It's in what we build with it. Just like how the camera didn't just create photography, it spawned entire industries from Hollywood to TikTok.

The Details:

• AI is becoming infrastructure - like electricity or the internet

• Calling yourself an "AI company" today is like calling yourself an "internet company" in 2024

• The models and tech are becoming commodities - everyone has access

• We're moving from one-way media consumption to dynamic, interactive content

• The future isn't about better AI models - it's about what you create with them

• We're at the "daguerreotype stage" of AI - primitive but full of possibility

Why it matters for marketers:

First, his post is a must read. This is a massive mindset shift we all need to make. We're not just getting new tools - we're getting an entirely new medium for reaching people. When the camera was invented, nobody could have predicted TikTok. Right now, we're all just "creating pictures with AI" - using it for basic stuff like writing copies or generating images. But the real opportunity is in figuring out entirely new forms of marketing that weren't possible before. The winners won't be the ones who just use AI tools - they'll be the ones who reimagine what marketing can be with AI as the foundation. We're literally picking up the camera for the first time in history, and nobody knows what our "TikTok moment" will look like.

Read the full Tweet here.

📜 Interesting posts

• Amazon's Rufus, their new AI shopping assistant, launches in beta across Europe.

• A one page cheat sheet that breaks down how to get the most out of Claude's capabilities.

• Ideogram's new Magic Fill and Extend features let you edit or expand images with impressive quality.

• The top 100 AI tools people are actually using at work in 2024.

• Wharton releases detailed findings on which companies are adopting AI and how they're using it.

• Need a presentation in 30 seconds? This TikTok shows how to automate the entire process using AI.

🛠️ Tools I'm Testing

Claude Projects: Think of these as CustomGPTs but for Claude. I've been using it to clone my content style - fed it 15 LinkedIn posts I love and now it can replicate that voice for any topic. Same with this newsletter - showed it my favorite writers, and now it turns my messy thoughts into organized gold. What used to take 3 hours now takes 45 minutes, and the quality actually holds up.

Here's my exact process:

1. Collect 10-15 examples of content you love (I used LinkedIn posts)

2. Create a new Claude project and paste these examples

3. Write clear instructions about what you like about each piece (tone, structure, hooks)

4. Now just paste any rough content and say "transform this using our established style"

**If you want my exact instructions, just reply to this email :)

Google AI Studio's Video Analysis: This is the first AI model I've seen that can actually watch and analyze video files. Been using it to break down viral TikToks, create detailed briefs based on winning styles, and spot the gaps between viral content and my own videos. Perfect for rapid ad testing too - it can generate tons of test variables based on what's working.

Here's my workflow:

1. Upload a viral TikTok I want to analyze

2. Ask for a detailed content brief based on its structure and hooks

3. Upload my own video and compare - it'll break down what's missing

4. For ads, upload your best performers and ask it to generate 20 test variables Pro tip: Use it to understand the psychological triggers in viral content - way deeper than surface-level metrics.

Arcads: If you're looking to get into AI UGC content, this is your starting point. Alex Cooper has a great breakdown on his channel about the process, but trust me - it's stupid simple to use and the results are only getting better.

Quick start guide:

1. Head to Arcads.com and create an account

2. Follow Alex Cooper's tutorial (linked) - he breaks it down perfectly

3. Start with their basic templates

4. Focus on authentic scripts first - the AI voice stuff comes later

HeyGen: Ruben Hassid's onto something here. Just cloned himself so his team can create videos without him being there. Think about it - you record once, create your digital twin, then your editors can make unlimited content while you focus on strategy. No more daily setup headaches. The future's weird, but I kinda like it.

Here's how:

1. Record about 2-5 minutes of yourself talking (varied topics)

2. Upload to HeyGen to create your AI twin

3. Write your scripts/storyboards

4. Let your team use your clone for unlimited content