Train AI to Recommend Your Brand: Andy Crestodina on AI Search, Conversion & Content That Wins

On the Web3 CMO Stories podcast, host Joeri Billast interviews Andy Crestodina, co-founder/CMO of Orbit Media, about how AI is reshaping search, buyer behavior, and what it takes for brands to be not just visible but recommended. Blog / show notes: https://webdrie.net/train-the-ai-to-r... Joeri's personal site: https://joeribillast.com Audio version: https://www.cmo-stories.com/1903080/e... Andy argues AI search optimization is the overlap of SEO and conversion rate optimization, driven by longer, multi-parameter prompts that reflect buyers’ real stories and decision criteria. He explains why websites—especially homepages—must answer real sales questions, why AI traffic converts far better even if overall traffic declines, and why marketers should prioritize business outcomes over vanity metrics. He stresses using prospect questions and sales call insights to build content, and says the most differentiated content is strong thought leadership and original research. Andy also outlines moving from ad hoc prompts to reusable prompts, assistants, and tools, and urges CMOs to be revenue-accountable, brand-building, and deeply connected to CRM metrics. 00:00 Train AI To Recommend 00:05 Meet Andy Crestodina 01:17 SEO Meets Visitor Psychology 02:43 Prompts Change Everything 04:46 Website Signals And Citations 06:14 Warmer Leads From AI 07:34 Traffic Is A Vanity Metric 08:45 FAQs That Sell 10:49 No Need For FAQ Blocks 12:07 Manipulation Vs Qualification 13:04 Human Only Content Formats 15:28 From Prompts To Tools 18:00 The Revenue Accountable CMO 19:54 Relationships Beat Robots 22:37 High Leverage Marketing Work 24:55 Five Year AI Marketing Playbook 26:50 Where To Follow Andy 28:13 Wrap Up And Sponsor Thanks