Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Marketing Millennials
Episode: How Your Brand Can Show Up On AI Search in 2026 with Tifenn Dano Kwan, CMO of Amplitude | Ep. 377
Date: December 24, 2025
Host: Daniel Murray
Guest: Tifenn Dano Kwan

Overview

This episode explores how brands can prepare for the growing influence of AI-powered search and large language models (LLMs) on digital marketing. Host Daniel Murray sits down with Tifenn Dano Kwan, CMO of Amplitude, to discuss the evolution from traditional SEO to AI search, how marketers should adapt their strategies, and the emerging importance of "AI visibility" as a metric. Tifenn shares actionable tactics, insights from top CMOs, and her perspective on measuring brand health in the era of generative AI search and zero-click journeys.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is Amplitude? (00:53–02:41)

• Amplitude’s Origin and Mission:
  • Amplitude was founded to address the high failure rate of digital products, helping product teams build better digital experiences by leveraging data.
  • The company went public in early 2022 and now focuses on powering growth through digital product intelligence.

2. AI Search vs. Traditional SEO (03:02–10:10)

• Shifting Landscape:

  • Marketers have long focused on SEO and Google as default channels for capturing web traffic.
  • LLMs are introducing a new "AI search" channel—sometimes called AEO (Answer Engine Optimization).
  • Despite the hype, most traffic is still from traditional SEO (about 80% vs. ~1% for LLMs at Amplitude). Still, AI search is rising and requires attention.

• SEO is Not Dead:

  • "SEO is not dead at all. In fact, when I look at the data...SEO accounts for 80% of my team's traffic." – Tifenn (04:03)
  • LLMs currently supplement the search landscape rather than replace traditional channels.

• The New Mindset:

  • AI search pulls from the same web content sources, so the fundamentals of optimization remain: creating helpful, question-answering web and blog content.
  • Marketers should now monitor both traffic from classic search and their brand’s citation by LLMs.

3. The Rise of "Citations" and Channel Diversification (08:20–10:10)

• Citations as the New Metric:

  • Marketers must optimize for "citations"—how often and where their brand is cited as an authoritative answer across the web and LLMs.
  • Key places to be cited: Reddit, G2 (especially for SaaS), LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and the brand website itself.

• Quote:

  • "The key in my view is to optimize for citations...your content needs to be positioned in the places that matter." – Tifenn (08:20)

4. How to Prepare for AI Search in 2026 (10:10–16:50)

• Brand Awareness is Becoming Performance:

  • The focus is shifting from pure performance and pipeline to the recognition that brand (as measured by its presence in AI search) drives results.
  • Tools for "AI visibility" are becoming essential for CMOs as they allow tracking of brand citations in LLM responses and comparison vs. competitors.
  • Quote: "Brand is becoming a performance engine finally, which is really incredible." – Tifenn (11:40)

• AI Visibility Tooling:

  • Tracks how often a brand appears in AI responses/prompts relative to competitors.
  • This new "AI visibility score" is emerging as a North Star metric for marketing teams.

5. Adapting Conversion Tracking & Experimentation (16:50–22:26)

• Zero-Click Search and Brand Demand:

  • Many LLM searches are “zero click,” meaning the engagement with the brand may not register as web traffic but can drive eventual sign-ups or direct searches.
  • Marketers must develop frictionless sign-up mechanisms—e.g. free trials—to better capture intent from these channels.

• Rebalancing Metrics:

  • Fewer clicks may not be bad if sign-ups or brand demand are rising.
  • "If your traffic’s going down, should everybody panic? Well, the answer is no because everybody’s traffic is going down." – Tifenn (17:37)
  • Focus on qualitative demand and not just web impressions.

6. Measuring the Modern Brand (22:26–24:51)

• Composite Brand Health Score:

  • Marketing leaders are building composite scores drawing from PR, AI visibility, traffic, and social metrics.
  • There’s opportunity for new businesses and tools in the brand/AI measurement space.

• Quote:

  • "There's a business to be made around the way to score brand, period. Not just AI visibility...a composite score." – Tifenn (22:26)

7. Signals That Matter for AI Search (24:51–28:37)

• Key Content Types:

  • FAQs, review sites, blogs, and user-generated content matter most for LLM citations.
  • AI-driven content at scale is proving effective.
  • Virality and being cited by authoritative sources send strong positive signals to LLMs.

• Quote:

  • "AI-driven content is phenomenal...conversions are actually fantastic coming out of it." – Tifenn (25:05)

• Memorable Example:

  • Daniel’s story about searching for the best high chair for a baby using an LLM, seeing reviews, then double-checking on the web (26:57).

• Advice:

  • The more you experiment with content and develop a distinct voice, the more you “teach” LLMs about your brand.

8. Where AI Impacts the Customer Journey (28:37–30:07)

• AI's Sweet Spot:
  • Most impactful at the top-to-middle of the funnel during research phase.
  • For complex B2B or enterprise sales, the human touch is still critical, but AI search is still valuable for discovery and education.

9. Making AI Visibility Actionable (30:07–34:30)

• What to do with AI Visibility Data:

  • Use it to identify which channels and content types are driving citations.
  • Prioritize citation opportunities in high-impact forums (Reddit, G2, etc.).
  • Diversify, triangulate, and iteratively test to determine what moves the needle.

• Quote:

  • "It's a triangulation exercise...until you know where your key strengths are and what content you need to feed each [platform]." – Tifenn (32:10)

10. 2026 AI Marketing Game Plan (34:30–38:45)

• Audit AI Readiness by Function:

  • Teams should classify their workflows as AI-driven, AI-assisted, or human-driven.
  • Invest in AI visibility, global chat capabilities, personalization at scale, intent-signal optimization, and AI-powered content factories.

• AI-Assisted Content:

  • Even as AI generates content in volume, human editors must refine for voice and accuracy.
  • "As much as you feed, I think AI is not at the hundred percent point of creating amazing content. So we need a human being...to bring it from 80% to 100%." – Daniel (38:26)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "SEO is not dead at all…SEO accounts for 80% of my team’s traffic, literally."
  – Tifenn (04:03)

• "The key in my view is to optimize for citations…your content needs to be positioned in the places that matter."
  – Tifenn (08:20)

• "Brand is becoming a performance engine finally, which is really incredible."
  – Tifenn (11:40)

• "AI-driven content is phenomenal…conversions are actually fantastic coming out of it."
  – Tifenn (25:05)

• "You get what you feed into the LLM right? So the LLM is going to be only as good as the content they’re going to scan for."
  – Tifenn (27:47)

• "It's not about the answer. It's about understanding which questions are going to be asked by whom and when."
  – Tifenn (33:55)

• Daniel’s story (26:57):
  "I have a baby. I was like searching what is the best highchair for longevity for a baby in my LLM. And it came up with a brand, and then I went on the Internet to just like verify if the LLM's correct."

Important Timestamps

• Amplitude’s Mission & Overview: 00:53–02:41
• LLM Search vs. SEO, Marketers’ Mindset: 03:02–10:10
• Optimizing for Citations & Brand Mentions: 10:10–16:50
• Tracking Brand via AI Visibility: 15:18–16:50
• Adapting Metrics & Zero-Click Future: 16:50–22:26
• Composite Brand Measurement: 22:26–24:51
• AI Signals, Content, and Citations: 24:51–28:37
• AI’s Role in Customer Journey: 28:37–30:07
• Actioning AI Visibility Data: 30:07–34:30
• 2026 AI Marketing Planning: 34:30–38:45
• AI vs. Human Content Crafting: 38:26–38:45
• Tifenn’s Marketing Hill to Die On – Pipeline: 38:45–44:24

Actionable Takeaways (for Marketers Planning for 2026)

• Start measuring your brand’s AI visibility in LLM responses, not just traffic and classic SEO metrics.
• Prioritize citation volume and quality—get your brand mentioned on authoritative platforms (Reddit, G2, review sites, etc.).
• Experiment and diversify content types (FAQs, blogs, benchmarks, video) to feed LLMs at scale.
• Make your website frictionless and sign-up mechanisms easy, as more users arrive “pre-qualified” from AI-driven searches.
• Prepare for zero-click journeys by correlating signups and other high-value actions with rises in brand search and off-site mentions.
• Build composite brand health scores that weigh in AI visibility and traditional metrics.
• Continuously research where your audience is conducting their AI-powered research and adapt accordingly.

Closing & Connect

• Where to Find Tifenn:

  • LinkedIn and X: Tifenn Dano Kwan
  • Amplitude.com or Amplitude.ai

• Memorable Closing Note:

  • The evolving field of AI search is pushing marketers to unite brand and performance, measure what matters, and keep up with the rapid pace of change.

This episode offers a playbook for marketers navigating the future of AI-driven discovery, brand measurement, and performance. Whether running a challenger brand or a market leader, adopting these frameworks will help you stay visible as the landscape shifts.