Introduction to a New Era of Search
The way people discover information is changing, and a former Google Search engineer, Andrew Yan, is betting on the end of traditional SEO. Yan co-founded Athena, a startup that helps brands stay visible in AI-generated responses from tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Athena is part of a new wave of companies responding to this shift, and it has already launched with $2.2 million in funding from Y Combinator and other venture firms.
The Shift in Search
Instead of browsing search results, people are increasingly getting direct answers from AI chatbots. As a result, the strategies that once helped websites rank in Google may no longer be enough to drive visibility. Yan told The Wall Street Journal, "Companies have been spending the last 10 or 20 years optimizing their website for the ’10 blue links’ version of Google. That version of Google is changing very fast, and it is changing forever."
Building Visibility in a Zero-Click Web
Athena’s platform is designed to show how different AI models interpret and describe a brand. It tracks how chatbots talk about companies across platforms and recommends ways to optimize web content for AI visibility. According to the company, Athena already has over 100 customers, including Paperless Post. The broader trend reflects growing concern among marketers about the rise of a "zero-click internet," where users get answers directly from AI interfaces and never visit the underlying websites.
Other Players in the Market
Athena isn’t the only company working on this. Profound, another startup, has raised more than $20 million from venture capital firms. Its platform monitors how chatbots gather and relay brand-related information to users. Profound has attracted several large clients, including Chime, and is positioning itself as an essential tool for navigating the complexity of generative AI search. Co-founder James Cadwallader says the company is preparing for a world where bots, not people, are the primary visitors to websites.
Impact on SEO Consultants
The shift is also reaching practitioners. Cyrus Shepard, founder of Zyppy SEO, told the Wall Street Journal that AI visibility went from being negligible at the start of 2025 to 10-15% of his current workload. By the end of the year, he expects it could represent half of his focus. Referring to new platforms like Athena and Profound, Shepard said, "I would classify them all as in beta. But that doesn’t mean it’s not coming."
What This Means for the Future
These startups are early signs of a larger shift in how content is surfaced and evaluated online. With AI tools synthesizing answers from multiple sources and often skipping over traditional links, marketers face a new kind of visibility challenge. Companies like Athena and Profound are trying to fill that gap by giving marketers a window into how generative AI models see their brands and what can be done to improve those impressions.
Conclusion
The rise of AI-generated search results is changing the way marketers approach visibility and SEO. As the landscape continues to evolve, companies like Athena and Profound are working to provide solutions for this new era of search. While it’s still early days for these startups, their traction indicates a need to address the challenges posed by AI search. As the industry continues to shift, one thing is clear: traditional SEO strategies will no longer be enough to drive visibility, and marketers will need to adapt to this new reality.