AI is redefining how people search, decide, and interact with brands. In conversation with Marketing Directo, Stephan Kopp, Managing Director at Mediaplus Performance, explains how AI-driven platforms are transforming the search landscape and why visibility, authority, and relevance now depend on being cited, not just clicked.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: Over the past few years, search has evolved far beyond Google's traditional links. How would you define next-generation search today?
Stephan Kopp: Search has always been evolving. Today, around 59% of searches result in zero clicks (Source: SparkToro) – users get direct answers without needing to visit a website or they do another search (37%). This trend began with traditional search and has only accelerated. Now, with tools like ChatGPT, users can ask complex questions and receive immediate responses. It’s not a problem – it’s a new reality. You’re no longer limited to short keyword queries; you can ask nuanced, detailed questions and still get an answer. Whether the answer is correct or not is another matter, but the accessibility of information has dramatically improved.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: Can you give an example?
Stephan Kopp: Sure. If you go to Google and type, ‘I’m looking for an SUV with a range of over 500km,’ you’ll get results for diesel, petrol, and some electric vehicles. But if you ask the same question in ChatGPT, it will likely only suggest electric vehicles – because it understands the context and intent behind your query. The brand comes second. It’s always been about meeting user needs. In traditional SEO, the goal was to position your brand to align with those needs. If your website only serves branding purposes and doesn’t help users, then it’s essentially irrelevant.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: So brands must accept that people will go to ChatGPT to research cars instead of visiting the BMW or Mercedes-Benz websites?
Stephan Kopp: Exactly. In traditional search, users would browse and click through ten blue links. Google itself has said that this isn’t the best user experience. Now, with ChatGPT, you ask a question, get an answer, and can make a decision. The customer journey has fewer touchpoints. You don’t need to visit every website – you just validate the AI’s answer by checking authoritative sources. That’s why we say ChatGPT or Gemini are additional channels – they provide faster information, but you still need trusted sources to verify it.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: And the more people use ChatGPT and Gemini, the better they become?
Stephan Kopp: Yes. These systems use search to validate their answers in the background. They perform organic searches and query fan-outs – essentially asking many websites for the right answer and then consolidating the information. SEO still plays a role here.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: How has Mediaplus Performance adapted to stay ahead of these shifts?
Stephan Kopp: We’re very curious about these developments and are testing extensively. We advise brands on how to measure traffic – which is currently quite low from these sources. While we can track citations, brand mentions, and sentiment, the data is still volatile because AI doesn’t generate the same response to identical queries. The biggest challenge is that we lack insight into what users are actually prompting. Some tools – including ours – rely on generated prompts, keywords, and question formats derived from AI or traditional search sources. We’re hoping that once advertising is integrated into these systems, we’ll see more detailed reporting – segmented by industry or use case.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: So citations are becoming a new KPI?
Stephan Kopp: Exactly. It’s no longer just about clicks. Being cited as a brand is becoming increasingly important.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: That’s a big shift.
Stephan Kopp: It is. And brands need to accept it – there’s no alternative. As an agency, it’s our job to help them understand this change.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: It sounds like a very different approach from traditional SEO.
Stephan Kopp: It is. In the past, we tried to understand how algorithms worked. Now, no one really knows how foundational models generate answers. What we can influence is the search grounding – the validation layer that checks whether an answer is correct. Hallucination is a major issue. Would you want to place ads in an environment where 30% of the information might be wrong?
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: That’s a big concern for advertisers and agencies alike.
Stephan Kopp: Absolutely. Brands don’t want to be associated with misinformation. But early adopters are already seeing the benefits. You no longer need to visit ten websites to gather information – you can ask one well-phrased question and get a solid answer.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: I recently asked ChatGPT which terminal I needed for my flight to Madrid. It told me Terminal 2 – instantly. I didn’t visit the Lufthansa or airport websites, so they didn’t get my click.
Stephan Kopp: Exactly. The user decides how fast this development progresses. Once you start using ChatGPT or any other LLM, you realise how powerful it is. You can have entire conversations and gather information incredibly quickly – it’s like a game of ping-pong.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: Even children are using it. You can hand them a tablet in a restaurant, and ChatGPT will tell them stories or play games. It’s like having a digital companion at the table.
Stephan Kopp: I always tell people: ask ChatGPT the questions you’d never ask another person – and you’ll be surprised by the quality of the answers. Only about 20% of ChatGPT usage is for information research. The rest is for things like coaching, writing or generative usage.
Currently, we advise clients to measure traffic and relevance, even if it’s low now. The future will bring more relevance. For example, if I can define my holiday preferences – family, dog, small hotels – and get tailored suggestions, why wouldn’t I use it?
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: But you still need to go to booking.com to make the reservation, right?
Stephan Kopp: Not necessarily. With ChatGPT’s SDK, you can now integrate booking.com directly. You can book within ChatGPT. Google is doing the same. ChatGPT doesn’t make money from subscriptions alone – they need ads or product sales.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: That could make things difficult for platforms like booking.com.
Stephan Kopp: Yes, it could be the end of the open web for many sites if ChatGPT continues down this path.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: AI-powered search raises concerns about data privacy, bias, and transparency. How is Mediaplus addressing these?
Stephan Kopp: There’s not much we can do directly. We advise clients not to use real names, emails, or phone numbers in prompts. Agentic browsing – where the AI acts on your behalf – is risky if it uses your credentials or credit card. Europe is trying to catch up, but development is moving fast, and we’re falling behind. That’s why many search features aren’t even released in Europe yet.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: In Germany, people are especially cautious.
Stephan Kopp: Yes. But agentic browsing is powerful. You can ask for a video where Steve Jobs says a specific quote, and the AI will find the exact timestamp. It’s a new world. Visual search is also evolving – it’s not new, but AI makes it more useful.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: So brands need to identify their clients’ use cases and focus on citations?
Stephan Kopp: Exactly. Don’t just chase clicks – aim to be cited positively. Optimising for ChatGPT means managing your digital footprint. Everything said about your brand online can end up in ChatGPT.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: So SEO is no longer relevant?
Stephan Kopp: On the contrary – SEO is more important than ever. Whether you call it SEO, GEO, AEO, or LLMO, it’s all about intent. Being an authority is key. ChatGPT uses search grounding to validate answers, often pulling from Google. If your content is outdated, it won’t be cited. But if you have fresh, unique data, you have a good chance of being included.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: So it’s about real-time information?
Stephan Kopp: Yes. Foundational models are trained on older data, but real-time answers come from live web crawling. We even track which pages GPT bots visit most often – it’s like reverse engineering early SEO again. In the end, it’s all about your digital footprint. If you’re not an authority, you won’t be cited.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: So brands need help – not just with search, but with PR?
Stephan Kopp: Absolutely. PR is more important than ever. You influence the open web by being present in reputable publications. If you publish articles across 20 credible sites, your brand gets picked up by AI. It’s a bit of a grey area, but it shows how the system works.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: So you recommend more PR – interviews, reports, media presence?
Stephan Kopp: Yes. Brands must be where users are researching. It’s no longer enough to wait for users to come to you. Being cited in the decision-making process is crucial.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: Finally, if you could give one piece of advice to brands preparing for the next wave of search innovation, what would it be?
Stephan Kopp: The pace of development is incredibly fast. We have agentic browsing, ChatGPT building walled gardens, and Google trying to keep up. Brands need to monitor traffic, form internal task forces, and start acting now. Big brands are often too slow – they take years to adapt. So start preparing, but don’t abandon traditional strategies just yet. In Germany, less than 1% of traffic currently comes from these new sources.
MarketingDirecto.com – MKD: Thank you very much, Stephan Kopp, Managing Director at Mediaplus Performance, for this insightful interview.
The interview was conducted by Javier Piedrahita.
Here’s the article published by Marketing Directo following the conversation.
