Move over SEO, Profound is helping brands with AI search optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) has been top of mind for brands for more than a decade to ensure their websites and products capture as many eyeballs as possible by ranking high up on search results pages. But search is changing, and as consumers increasingly turn to AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude to search for things, brands need a new strategy.

Profound launched to help brands better figure out how they appear in AI searches by tracking common search queries for brands. For example, if a user is in the automotive industry, their dashboard would automatically contain data on searches like “what is the best SUV?” People can also use the platform to run more-specific searches to find out how search results change by demographic data or to get in the weeds about how AI systems rank the trustworthiness of websites talking about specific products.

The New York-based company was launched earlier this year by James Cadwallader and Dylan Babbs, who met at startup incubator South Park Commons. Cadwallader told Dakidarts that he and Babbs became obsessed with how AI was changing online search. Cadwallader said his experience working with big Fortune 500 brands as a former founder of data-driven influencer marketing agency Kyra helped spark the specific idea behind Profound.

“In this new world of AI answers, how does Nike understand and control how they show up? If I’m asking ChatGPT for a running sneaker, it will give me four or five suggestions,” Cadwallader said. “Nike spends $4 billion a year on marketing, and hundreds of millions of people are using these AI answers to research products and brands on a daily basis. How do we show up in the new world?”

The platform is dynamic, as opposed to a static snapshot, Babbs said, so as AI search continues to evolve and may change what it favors — a common occurrence for SEO rankings — brands using Profound can track changes and adjust.

Cadwallader said the startup is still in its infancy but has already started working with a large branding agency; Profound also has two other contracts in the works. The company is now emerging from stealth with $3.5 million in seed money from a round that included Keith Rabois, through Khosla Ventures, Saga, South Park Commons and angel investors Scott Belsky and Balaji S. Srinivasan. Cadwallader said Profound plans to use the money to hire and to continue building out the tech.

Ben Braverman, a co-founder and managing partner at Saga, told Dakidarts that he met Cadwallader through a talk he gave at South Park Commons. “As soon as you start talking to [Cadwallader] about what he is building, the energy is dripping off this guy,” Braverman said. “The more time I spent with him, a delightful human being, talking about where the puck was moving in AI, it was a lightbulb moment, I have to spend more time with this person.”

Braverman added that he’s been able to eavesdrop on sales calls, and it seems like potential customers quickly come to understand the need for this kind of tech. Braverman was also interested because he thinks Profound is building itself a moat, and the way the company is serving the brands it works with will prevent those companies from wanting to build the tech in-house.

But that jury is likely still out. While Profound may be one of the companies looking to tackle this area, it will not be the last. As AI search becomes an increasing area of conversation, there will be existing SEO firms or marketing agencies in addition to other startups looking to build up their prowess in this area.

“In this new world, every company, every business across every industry is going to want to know how they show up in AI answers,” Cadwallader said. “Profound will be the solution that every company in the world uses every day to understand how these AI systems are talking about them.”