Episode 82: Using AI at Work to Win in Search and LLM Discovery with Zak Ali

Chris Daigle sits down with Zak Ali, General Manager at Finder, to unpack how search is evolving as people move from traditional search engines to large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Zak explains why SEO is not dead, how LLMs decide which brands to surface, and why trust signals like authority, recency, and editorial rigor matter more than ever. He shares how Finder adapted its content strategy to show up consistently inside AI answers, what types of long tail queries perform best in LLM search, and how AI powered browsers are changing the future of discovery.
They also explore how Finder is approaching AI upskilling internally, why hands on experimentation beats mandates, and how non technical teams are using tools like Claude Code and MCPs to dramatically increase productivity. This episode is a must listen for leaders who want to understand where search is headed and how AI is reshaping how customers find solutions.
🔎 Find Out More About Zak Ali
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/zak-ali44
Substack
thoughtson.substack.com

Finder
finder.com

🛠 AI Tools and Resources Mentioned
ChatGPT
openai.com/chatgpt

Claude
claude.ai

Perplexity
perplexity.ai

Notebook LM
notebooklm.google

📌 Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Zak Ali and Finder
02:10 SEO vs LLM search and why fundamentals still matter
04:55 How LLMs choose which sources to cite
07:40 Bing, Google, and triangulating AI search results
10:30 Inspecting ChatGPT queries to understand discovery
13:05 Recency, trust, and authority signals for LLMs
15:45 AI generated content and human quality standards
18:35 Long tail queries and why they win in AI search
21:40 Measuring traffic and revenue from LLM discovery
24:10 AI browsers and the future of click data
27:30 Internal AI upskilling without mandates
30:20 Claude Code, MCPs, and terminal based workflows
34:10 Non technical teams building real tools with AI
37:40 Executive blind spots and the knowledge gap
41:05 Getting started with practical AI habits
44:00 Where to follow Zak Ali and keep learning
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