Episode 33: Clarity Framework: How AI is Reshaping Search and Customer Journeys
Robbie and Tim explore how AI is transforming search behavior—from conversational queries to AI-driven customer journeys. They break down what this shift means for visibility, strategy, and brand integrity, and introduce the Clarity Framework: a practical tool for staying competitive as models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude become key decision-making touchpoints. Perfect for marketers, SEO pros, and business leaders looking to stay ahead.
“You’re not just optimizing for search engines anymore—you’re training your AI sales rep.”
Objectives
In this episode, you will be able to:
Understand how AI is transforming traditional search behavior into conversational, context-driven interactions
Recognize the limitations of legacy SEO tactics in an AI-first environment
Learn how to apply the Clarity Framework to future-proof your brand’s visibility
Identify where AI pulls brand data from—and how to ensure that information is accurate and consistent
Explore the importance of aligning content across platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, and your website
Discover how to track your brand’s presence in AI-generated search results using new monitoring tools
Prepare your organization to adapt to the evolving role of large language models in the customer journey
Transcript
Robbie Fitzwater [00:00:00]: Wait, so Tim—you talk to your phone like you talk to a person?
Tim Lowry: Yeah. You don’t do that?
Robbie: I mean…
Tim: I even have a name for my phone.
Robbie: Yeah?
Tim: You’re not actually talking to Tim. This is Tim’s agent you’re speaking to. How may I help—
Robbie: Hello, everybody. This is Tim and Robbie with the Content Community Commerce Podcast, where we talk about the convergence of content, community, and commerce. Today, we’re going to touch on something that’s impacting your lives—whether you like it or not. It’s coming, and it's going to change how we look at the customer journey.
More importantly, how are marketers going to adapt? How are individuals going to engage with platforms in the future?
Tim, you’ve got a fascinating perspective on this because you’re seeing how search is evolving. What kicked this off?
Tim: I think anyone who's been listening—and especially you, Robbie—you’ve seen me go through a rollercoaster with this over the past few years.
Robbie: I've seen you go from full-on AI skeptic—“That’s snake oil; I won't touch it”—to “This is amazing!” And then back and forth a few times. When you threw your computer out the window, I was a little worried.
Tim: Yeah, I still feel bad for the guy who took it to the side of the head. He didn’t see which window it was coming from, so…
Robbie: It's fine. Totally fine.
Tim: It’s definitely been a personal evolution—how I’ve used AI and what I’ve learned. But especially in the last 6 to 9 months, I’ve been reading more, learning more, and seeing firsthand how user behavior and search are shifting.
Google is shifting. Large language models are shifting. And there’s this growing gap for businesses. As an SEO, our responsibility is to make sure our clients are visible in search. But if that audience is changing how and where they search, we’ve got to figure out how to respond.
Robbie: So, with more AI functionality in search, it’s fundamentally changing how people look for things, right? People aren't searching like “XYZ near me” anymore. They're asking more complicated, long-winded questions.
Tim: Yeah. If you rewind five to ten years ago, it was all about head terms—those short one- or two-word keywords that drove tons of traffic. Now people are getting more conversational and asking more complex questions.
With Google, it’s still a traditional answer engine. You ask a question; it gives you a response. That’s how AI Overviews and similar features work. But people are also using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and those tools are integrated into phones and computers now. They're becoming part of daily behavior.
It’s not just about looking up single words anymore—you can provide way more color and context, get feedback, and have a back-and-forth conversation. That’s bleeding into traditional search, too. People are now typing in 15-word queries into Google because they know it can handle that.
Robbie: So instead of going from “problem-aware” to “solution-aware” through several short keyword searches, people can now describe their problem in full. The system understands them better.
Tim: Exactly. I talk to clients and friends about this. If you're a business looking for a new ERP system, you used to go to Google and search “best ERP system” or “CRM alternatives.” You’d find a comparison site, look through feature checklists, and repeat that process across multiple searches.
But now, with a large language model, you might say:
“We’re a B2B company with $20M in revenue, 150 employees, we do XYZ, and we currently use ABC with these integrations. What are our best options if we want to switch?”
Now the AI becomes an expert researcher, giving you tailored answers based on your specifics. It might even suggest you don’t need to switch, just optimize. That changes the game.
You just skipped 20 different Google searches. You’re already halfway down the customer journey by the time you’re ready to click.
Robbie: We talked about this in an earlier episode—how the customer journey has changed. Buying a car in the 1990s vs. buying one now? Totally different. You used to show up in your power suit with a bag phone.
Tim: Now you can find everything yourself. And that self-directed search is faster. You don’t need perfect keywords anymore. You can just speak into your phone and say, “Hey, my friend’s business does XYZ. I think they use ABC software. It seems cool—what do I need to know?”
And the AI will figure it out for you.
Robbie: It's like having a really smart intern—or eventually a thought partner—who helps you make decisions. People at that “thought partner” level of AI usage are already searching this way.
Tim: Exactly. The more comfortable people get, the more this becomes the new normal.
Robbie: You mentioned earlier—Jeff Bezos called AI a “horizontal” layer, like cloud computing. It’s going to touch everything—your phone, your TV, your car.
Tim: Yup. For example, in new Audis, you can say, “My feet are cold,” and it’ll heat the footwell. That’s conversational language, and it’s only getting more common.
Google still works with structured data and returns results. But conversational AI understands context and nuance. And while not every product category is affected yet—like fun consumer products—the more technical your product or audience, the faster this will become the norm.
Robbie: I saw a guy with these really unique shoes the other day—couldn’t find the brand, no label. I just described what I saw to my phone and eventually found them.
Tim: That’s exactly it. Descriptive, niche, and unique products thrive in this model.
Robbie: This is the kind of shift you can’t ignore anymore. Death, taxes, Taylor Swift, and AI.
Tim: Yep. In the first six months it was a fun toy. Now it’s moving so fast that if businesses aren’t getting ahead of it, they’ll fall behind. You want to be leading the curve—not playing catch-up in two years.
Robbie: So, to deal with that, you built a framework for clients—something that helps structure this shift?
Tim: Right. We’re calling it the Clarity Framework—because that’s what it brings. It’s a cheesy acronym, but it works. Once I break it down, it’ll make sense.
C – Crawl
Just like with Google—can AI crawl your site? Is the information retrievable?
There are about 24 bots crawling for various AI models. If you’ve blocked one or more, that’s a red flag.
L – Learn
We use large language models like ChatGPT to ask:
What do you know about Business X?
What does Business X offer?
Who are its competitors?
We’re learning what AI thinks it knows—and looking for gaps, outdated content, or misinformation.
A – Analyze
Evaluate the information you get back.
What’s missing? What’s wrong? What absolutely must be correct if AI is going to act like your sales rep?
R – Respond
Update or create content based on what you’ve learned.
Build or revise landing pages
Retire old pages
Correct misinformation
I – Integrate
Look beyond your site. Where else is AI pulling info from? LinkedIn, Reddit, Wikipedia, Clutch, Capterra—make sure all of it aligns.
Microsoft owns LinkedIn. Microsoft backs OpenAI. See the connection?
T – Train
LLMs don’t learn in real time. They train on periodic data snapshots.
So if you update your site today, it might not show up in ChatGPT until the next model release.
Y – Yield
How do we measure success?
We use a tool (currently in beta) that lets us input queries and see where a brand ranks in conversational results.
Are we showing up? Are we missing entirely? That’s your feedback loop.
Robbie: Man, that’s a full system. And having a structured framework like this—especially in the Wild West stage of AI—is huge.
Tim: Totally. This helps clients feel less overwhelmed. We’re not just reacting—we have a plan, even if the landscape is still changing.
Robbie: You’re basically hiring AI as a sales rep. And you want to train it well.
Tim: Exactly. It’s not on your payroll, but it’s representing you out there—24/7. Better make sure it’s saying the right things.
Robbie: I’m sure we’ll talk more about this in future episodes.
Tim, thanks for sharing. My brain is spinning with ideas.
Tim: Same. Excited to see where this all goes.
Robbie: Alright, that’s a wrap.
This is Tim and Robbie with the Content Community Commerce Podcast. Leave us a review if you liked it. Five stars—or at least three and a half.
