Seventeen years in search. The last two obsessing over what AI is doing to it.
I'm James Richardson. I co-founded Optimising, a B Corp SEO agency, and I speak about AI search: how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews decide which brands to mention, and what to actually do about it.
No motivational AI talk. No slides about robots taking jobs. Just what's happening to search, backed by data from the brands we work on every day.
The one most events book. People aren't just googling anymore, they're asking ChatGPT. This talk covers how AI assistants pick their sources, why some brands get cited constantly and others never come up, and the practical work that moves the needle. Your audience leaves with a checklist, not a vibe.
Everyone's selling GEO right now. Most of it is repackaged SEO with a new invoice. This talk separates what's genuinely new about optimising for AI search from what you're probably already paying for, and gives marketers the questions to ask their agency. Honest, occasionally uncomfortable, always useful.
I ran the numbers on 115 Australian businesses: 24.8 million sessions of real traffic data. AI referrals grew 1,200% year on year at the median, and 88.5% of sites were already getting AI traffic, most without knowing it. This talk walks through what the data says about who wins, who's invisible, and where it's heading. Australian numbers, not recycled US case studies.
My most requested format. Before your event, I run your industry through our AI visibility tracking. Your audience sees their own market on screen: which brands AI recommends, which are invisible, and which sources are deciding it. Not a generic case study, their actual competitors.
Some examples of how this plays out:
McDonald's, the most recognisable franchise brand on the planet, gets 4% share of voice when AI answers "best franchise to buy in Australia". Jim's Group gets 38%. The difference is directories, not brand size.
Ask ChatGPT for a dentist and it names practices based on directory listings and review platforms most practices have never optimised.
AI referral traffic grew 1,200% year on year across the Australian sites we studied, and it behaves differently on every platform.
I've built versions for recruitment, home builders, aged care, financial services, hospitality and legal. If your industry isn't on the list, that's the fun part.
I'm not a professional speaker who added AI to the deck last year. I run an agency doing this work daily for brands like Chemist Warehouse, adidas and Nando's, and I publish the research: the Australian AI Traffic Study, plus op-eds in AdNews, Mediaweek and B&T on AI search.
That means the talk changes as the platforms change. What I presented six months ago isn't what I'll present at your event, because the space doesn't sit still and neither does the material.
I've spoken at the Sydney SEO Conference, run the Shopify Plus partner event series across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, guest lecture at Swinburne, and have MC'd and moderated more panels than I can list.
Shopify PlusTell me about your event and I'll come back within a day or two with availability and fees.