What’s even more remarkable is that these two terms driving 15 Million in potential monthly traffic didn’t even exist a year ago. OpenAI didn’t embark on an SEO journey to capture traffic from a competitor — they created this traffic out of thin air and immediately owned it.

I’m not trying to suggest that OpenAI is a typical case, but the extreme brand tilt of their SEO demonstrates that the keywords we think of as being the most attractive may leave out a lot of potential. Millions of people were looking for a product that didn’t exist prior to ChatGPT, and when that need was satisfied, it created an entirely new SEO opportunity.

That’s the power of brand. Search doesn’t start with the algorithm’s response to words in a box or even with the words themselves — it starts with an idea in the searcher’s mind. Strong brands resonate in people’s minds and drive their search demand, intercepting the process in a way that subverts traditional SEO and the competition.