Can AI responses be influenced? The SEO industry is trying

The Verge / 4/6/2026

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Key Points

The article describes a scenario in which Google’s AI Mode generates a detailed answer for an IT service desk platform, but the linked sources can be misleading or unrelated to the suggested provider.
It highlights the SEO industry’s growing effort to influence AI-generated responses, raising questions about how those answers are compiled from third-party sites.
The piece notes a specific attribution involving a blog post connected to Zendesk’s product marketing leadership, suggesting coordinated attempts to shape visibility within AI summaries.
It underscores a broader concern that AI search and chat-style results may be vulnerable to SEO manipulation, affecting users’ trust and decision-making.

Let's pretend you work in IT and you're looking for a new digital service desk platform to help your employees reset passwords or onboard new hires. You use Google's AI Mode to search for suggestions, which quickly spits out a detailed answer listing companies to explore, their pricing, and what each option is best for. It helpfully cites more than a dozen websites, which AI Mode used to craft a response. The first source link is from Zendesk, a company that offers the exact service you're looking for - but when you click through, something is entirely off.

A blog post attributed to the director of product marketing says Zendesk put togeth …

Read the full story at The Verge.