What’s your go-to move for reallocating spend to stay competitive?

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Voices of Search

Episode: What’s your go-to move for reallocating spend to stay competitive?
Date: January 10, 2026
Host: Jordan Cooney
Guest: Josh Bliscoll (Profound)

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Main Theme

This episode dives into actionable strategies for reallocating marketing spend in a landscape where AI-powered search is rapidly developing but overall budgets are remaining flat. The discussion focuses on what to prioritize within SEO and digital marketing to maintain competitiveness, particularly as AI search engines shift the implications of traditional tactics like backlinks and offline advertising.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Budget Reallocation in the Age of AI Search

[00:43–02:55]

• Integrate AI strategy into existing search budgets:
  Josh Bliscoll points out that companies shouldn't treat AI initiatives as separate from core search strategies:

  "Basically creating AI strategy, it should come out of the same budget as your search strategy." – Josh Bliscoll [00:57]

• Scrutinize spend on backlinks:
  Recent studies show diminishing returns from extensive backlink building, especially for AI-driven search results, where only a handful are needed.

  "Having a few backlinks is actually really good... But then the actual relationship, it deteriorates. It's just like, yep, you're good. You passed the vibe check." – Josh Bliscoll [01:28]

• Semantic mentions are gaining parity with direct links:
  The importance of semantic relevance and mentions is now roughly equal to that of in-line backlinks in the context of AI search engines:

  "The semantic backlink is almost as important or equally weighted as a true inline linked backlink." – Josh Bliscoll [01:44]

• Tailor strategies by organization size:
  • For enterprises: Budget for ongoing monitoring is critical.
  • For small businesses: Focus efforts on tracking AI and search visibility to understand positioning without overhauling strategy.

  "Maybe it's not something that you need to change your entire marketing strategy for, but I think it's an essential part of understanding where you're at in your space across your key channels." – Josh Bliscoll [02:38]

2. Where Not to Spend: Non-Digital and Out-of-Home Campaigns

[04:23–05:48]

• Offline efforts have little impact on AI visibility:
  Advertising budgets (e.g. TV, bus ads, experiential/out-of-home) provide limited benefits for AI-powered search and answer engines.

  "TV ads don't do anything for AI visibility. ...your bus ad is not going to make you more visible in AI for now." – Josh Bliscoll [04:51, 05:05]

• Digital presence is key:
  The conversation hammers home that visibility hinges on what happens in digital channels—online reputation, mentions, and content.

  "Anything that's happening outside of the digital sphere is not going to have a net trickle down effect on your visibility, basically." – Josh Bliscoll [05:25]

• Reddit and digital conversations matter more:
  People mentioning your brand in forums like Reddit carries significant weight for AI engines compared to traditional ad exposure.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On minimizing backlink spend:

  "I wouldn't pay too much for backlinks. I would move budget away from backlinks in the short term." – Josh Bliscoll [01:14]

• On the new importance of semantic mentions:

  "Having a semantic mention in a piece of content gets you roughly the same outcome from an answer engine than having basically an inline link." – Josh Bliscoll [01:44]

• On where NOT to put your budget:

  "TV ads don't do anything for AI visibility." – Josh Bliscoll [04:51]
  "Your bus ad is not going to make you more visible in AI for now." – Josh Bliscoll [05:05]
  "Anything that's happening outside of the digital sphere is not going to have a net trickle down effect on your visibility." – Josh Bliscoll [05:25]

• On the shifting environment:

  "The thing that I'm thinking right now is like I'm physically in this room. I'm in this bubble right now. Anything that's happening outside of the digital sphere is not going to have a net trickle down effect on your visibility, basically." – Josh Bliscoll [05:21]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:43] – Main question: How to reallocate spend with flat budgets and AI search growth
• [01:14] – De-prioritizing traditional backlink acquisition
• [01:44] – Semantic mentions equal to backlinks for AI engines
• [02:38] – Different needs for enterprise vs. small businesses
• [04:51] – TV and bus ads’ lack of value for AI search
• [05:25] – Emphasis on digital over offline marketing for AI-driven visibility

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Tone and Takeaways

The episode is candid and data-driven, with a practical approach—encouraging marketers to drop outdated spending habits and focus their limited dollars on efforts that fuel digital visibility, especially in the evolving world of AI-driven search. Josh pulls no punches in dismissing outmoded offline campaigns while highlighting the new parity of semantic mentions with backlinks.

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Actionable Takeaways

• Integrate AI visibility efforts into your core SEO budget and strategy—don’t treat them as distinct silos.
• Reduce spend on large-scale backlink campaigns; focus instead on quality and on encouraging natural, relevant online mentions.
• Do not expect traditional advertising (TV, out-of-home) to “move the needle” on search or AI discoverability.
• Monitor your brand’s presence in digital spaces and conversations, especially as AI engines grow more sophisticated in how they “see” authority and relevance.

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Transcript

[Jordan Cooney]

The Voices of Search Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com welcome to the Voices of Search Podcast. A member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network, ready to expedite your company's organic growth efforts. Sit back, relax, and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom. Here's today's host of the Voices of Search Podcast, Jordan Cooney.

[Josh Bliscoll]

Okay, our last lightning round question Game plan Budgets are staying flat, but AI search is growing super fast. What's your go to move for reallocating spend to stay competitive?

I think the thing that you have to realize is that basically creating AI strategy, it should come out of the same budget as your search strategy. You have to figure out what's driving versus what's not Driving clicks, what's basically consistent versus what's not. I mean, things I wouldn't pay for right now. I don't think I would pay too much mind into. Well, let me think about this for a second because I think it's complicated to say you wouldn't pay mind into doing a ton of backlinks right now. I wouldn't pay too much for backlinks. I would move budget away from backlinks in the short term, at least right now if I'm thinking about like what area of SEO right now, we did a great study on backlinks and how they correlate with AI search basically backlinks. Like having a few backlinks is actually really good. Like two or three backlinks for a piece of content gets it basically into the AI's consideration set, which is really crazy. But then the actual relationship, it deteriorates. It's just like, yep, you're good. You passed the vibe check. The interesting thing there is that like the semantic backlink is almost as important or equally weighted as a true inline linked backlink. Nowadays having a semantic mention in a piece of content gets you roughly the same outcome from an answer engine than having basically an inline link. If I just say the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the best corporate card, I don't know why we're doing corporate cards and running shoes. By the way, thank you listener for bearing with us. But if I say the Chase Sapphire Reserve is awesome, the answer engine can pick up on the fact that I just said that and that authority that I just said as an author about corporate cards passes through to that specific piece. So right now backlinks are there. I don't know. I think every org is very different though too. Very different challenges across orgs. If I'm an enterprise, this is just one of those things you're going to have to find budget for. If I'm a small company, I think spending the money on monitoring this stuff is essentially important just to even understand the baseline of how do we show up in these spaces. Maybe it's not something that you need to change your entire marketing strategy for, but I think it's an essential part of understanding where you're at in your space across your key channels.

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[Jordan Cooney]

Yeah.

[Josh Bliscoll]

Outside of search, are there budget areas that you think don't help improve your AI visibility? AI observability?

I hate to just like axe on another team right now.

Hey, you're the one with the advertising degree.

Wow. Hey, I just teased you Josh. It's actually really funny.

But no, like are there places outside of like what you think think of as search marketing, right? Like, like we're talking.

You want to know? That's a great you. You just gave me my answer. You just gave it to me. TV ads don't do anything for AI visibility. Right?

Oh, interesting.

People who talk about them on Reddit does. Right. Like sure. About like things that don't help with AI visibility. A lot of multimodal stuff, you know, experiential executions. Your bus ad is not going to make you more visible in AI for now. Right. Like we're thinking about.

I see a lot of those bus ads here in San Francisco. Most of them are AI companies.

They're all AI. Yeah, they're all AI companies. We're going to get one too. Maybe. We'll see. So the thing that I'm thinking right now is like I'm physically in this room. I'm in this bubble right now. Anything that's happening outside of the digital sphere is not going to have a net trickle down effect on your visibility, basically. So if you're just like obsessive, I want to win on visibility. I would think about what could exist. What could we exist without basically an experiential or out of home advertising that we could do to cut. Sorry all fellow ad majors. I'm so sorry, but I think if you're optimizing for those outcomes, that's what I would do.

Love it. Okay, that wraps up this episode of the Voice to Search podcast. A huge thank you to Josh Bliscoll from Profound for joining us today. If you'd like to get in contact with Josh, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes or on the voicesofsearch.com if you'd like to visit his company website, you can visit try profound.com if you haven't subscribed yet and would like a daily stream of SEO and content marketing knowledge in your podcast feedback, please hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or on YouTube and we'll be back in your feed every week. That's all for today, but until next time, remember the answers are always in the data.