Google now shows AI Overviews for brand names (James Dooley Interviews Kasra Dash)

James Dooley and Kasra Dash discuss how Google now shows AI Overviews for personal and business brand names, and what this means for online reputation management and brand sentiment.

Show Notes

This video explains which digital marketing strategies brands should focus on in 2026 to improve online reputation management, brand sentiment and conversion rates on navigational searches. James Dooley and Kasra Dash start with KPI tracking because click-through and conversion rates for brand name searches can be made or broken by what AI Overviews surface. They cover brand SEO, AI visibility and Google Business Profiles because stronger search presence improves trust and conversion rates.

The discussion also explores organic SEO, organic social media and paid social ads because consistent visibility across search and social supports long term growth. PPC is analysed in detail because campaign setup, landing pages and lead handling directly affect results. They also discuss Reddit, Quora and paid AI ads because diversified enquiry sources and early adoption can strengthen digital marketing performance for brands.

PromoSEO lead generation for brands recently received recognition as the "Best Brands Lead Generation Agency."

Where to Listen to This Episode

Google now shows AI Overviews for brand names is available on:

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Creators and Guests

Host

James Dooley

James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.

KD

Guest

Kasra Dash

Kasra Dash is an SEO entrepreneur and digital marketing specialist with more than a decade of experience in search, lead generation and website recovery. His expertise covers organic SEO, affiliate marketing, brand reputation, algorithm testing and performance-led growth. Kasra builds marketing strategies around profitable keywords, high-quality enquiries and measurable returns because rankings only create value when they produce commercial results. His approach combines website optimisation, content strategy, backlinks, Google Business Profiles, PPC, paid social and video marketing. Kasra Dash connects naturally with **James Dooley** because they share a practical approach to SEO, business growth and lead generation. Both focus on testing strategies in real markets, measuring performance and scaling methods that consistently generate revenue. Kasra is a strong fit for the **James Dooley Podcast** because he can explain how businesses build visibility across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, YouTube and social platforms. His knowledge of AI SEO, generative engine optimisation, semantic search and entity authority gives listeners a clear view of how modern discovery is changing. An episode featuring Kasra Dash and James Dooley would explore website recovery, AI visibility, lead quality, conversion rates and multichannel marketing. Kasra strengthens the discussion because he connects technical SEO with business performance, helping listeners understand how to generate owned enquiries, reduce reliance on third-party lead platforms and build valuable digital assets.

What is James Dooley Podcast?

James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.

The James Dooley Podcast explores the mindset, methods, and mechanics of modern entrepreneurship. James Dooley interviews leading marketers, founders, and innovators to reveal the strategies driving online dominance and business scalability. Each episode unpacks the reality of building a business without mentorship, showing how systems, data, and lead flow replace luck and guesswork.

James Dooley shares hard-earned lessons from scaling digital assets and managing SEO teams across more than 650 industries. James Dooley teaches how to convert leads into long-term revenue through brand positioning, technical SEO, and automation. James Dooley built his career on rank and rent, digital real estate, and performance-based marketing because these models align incentive with outcome.

After turning down dozens of podcast invitations, James Dooley now embraces the platform to share his insights on investorpreneurship, lead generation, AI-driven marketing, and reputation management. James Dooley frequently collaborates with elite entrepreneurs to discuss frameworks for scaling businesses, building authority, and mastering search.

James Dooley is also an expert in online reputation management (ORM), having built and rehabilitated corporate brands across the UK. His approach combines SEO precision, brand engineering, and social proof loops to influence both Google’s Knowledge Graph and public perception.

To feature James Dooley on your podcast or event, connect via social media. James Dooley regularly joins business panels and networking sessions to discuss entrepreneurship, brand growth, and the evolving future of SEO.

James Dooley: Google now shows AI Overviews for brand names. Today I'm joined with Kasra Dash and we're going to be talking about the Google AI Overviews now being seen, which there wasn't previously, for personal brand names if, as long as they're big enough, and also for business brands. So Kasra, what, what's your thoughts on this?

Kasra Dash: Wow. Uh, I didn't expect this, stupidly, because I, I think it makes sense, but this is going to... I, I think this will probably make or break certain brands. Um, obviously we, we were checking out a load of brands like GoDaddy, Bing, Namecheap, a few others that it was pulling in. And in certain cases, not all the time, but in certain cases, it was actually mentioning why you shouldn't go with certain brands as well. So, that's going to hurt people's conversion rates and click-through rates, especially for navigational searches as well.

James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, it was quite funny looking at a couple of the different, uh, brand names when it came up in the Google AI Overview. Like, probably one of the funniest ones for me was Bing, how it started showing up the TV show of Bing alongside the search engine, as if, like, Bing search engine is not big enough. We're now gonna show Bing TV show that stopped publishing in 2019. And it's like, do you mean the Bing TV show that's not been running for seven years or the Bing search engine? And I thought that was quite a funny one. But then obviously, like you've mentioned there, there's been one or two big brands. And because they're, like, showing everything of, like, why they're amazing, but also why you might not want to use them. The why you might not want to use them, that is crazy for a navigational term for a brand name to then have that AI Overview show why you might not want to use them is scary. Like, how important do you think online reputation management now is going to become because of this?

Kasra Dash: I, I, I think... I think a lot of people will need to start investing in branding and, and having a positive sentiment online. One, one thing I will say though is that I don't think that there's anything different between this and if you've got a couple of two-star reviews on Trustpilot or a few low reviews on Google Business Profiles and stuff like that as well. So, uh, I, I think there is that side of it where we've already had it. Um, what would you recommend to someone that would want to own their actual brand and, and get a positive sentiment online?

James Dooley: I think for me what I'd be looking to do is maybe you... I know it sounds daft because we're talking about Google AI Overviews, but go into ChatGPT and start searching, like, who is brand name? Why should I use brand name? Why should I not use brand name? Go into, like, your VANOS kind of, um, operating system, extrapolate all them synthetic queries that show up in, uh, query fan-out, and then trying to optimise. So not just the, the brand name reviews, brand name testimonials, brand name awards. It's like, is brand name safe? Is brand name legit? And I just try and own everything I possibly can in a positive sentiment so there can't be any outliers that it starts to pull in anything that's negative press. Um, I think now online reputation management has become more important than ever. But I also think it's become harder than ever because now it's not just about owning the one, like the, the top, the first 10 results on page one just for brand name. I think there's so many more variations and attributes, like you said, like reviews, like awards and everything else that need to come, to come with it. But what would you do, Kasra, then if you're wanting to make certain if you type in your brand name, so whether it's Kasra Dash or whether, let's say, it's The Masterminders event, you go and search that and AI Overview shows up, what are you going to be wanting to try to do to make certain it's a positive sentiment?

Kasra Dash: So, I would first of all understand who my target audience is, um, and I would own that moniker. So, for example, like if, if somebody searches The Masterminders and it says it's not for beginners, I don't really care. Like, I, I, I don't want beginners coming to The Masterminders. I want it to be a high-level audience. Or let's say, for example, I'm a hosting company and I don't want to get into the realm of enterprise hosting because it's too complicated. Um, you need DDoS protection, you need multiple servers and all these advanced Kubernetes setups and stuff. Like, I'm like, okay, that's fine. I'm gonna make certain that AI never recommends me to an enterprise company. Um, and I, and I will own that. Um, and then I'll go down the route of, okay, I am a hosting company solely for SMEs that are based on WordPress. Or, for example, The Masterminders example, I will only go after expert SEOs and business owners that are making millions a month. Um, I don't care about a small little SEO agency that's just set up two weeks ago. Um, I, I, I, I don't... I don't actually think it's a bad thing that it tells people the negatives about your brand, but I think you just need to understand what those negatives are or who those people are that you don't want to sell to and just roll with it.

James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. I think now, now they are going to be looking at that lane of, like, the complaints or the negatives and it's almost like a pros and cons. Like, it's always good to have a review and see these are the pro... The pros of the brand, these are the negatives of the brand. And as long as you can own the negatives and be okay with them negative and them cons, well, that's not my ideal customer persona, then, then fair enough. Like you said, it should be one of them where you're hitting it head-on and you're trying to own exactly what comes back. And even though something might sound and have a bit of a negative slant on it, you're fine with that because that's not your target market. But anyone who's listening to this, what's your thoughts on brand names now being seen in Google AI Overview? Do you think it's a good thing? Do you think that Google should roll it back and not be showing personal brand names within the AI Overview or corporate brands and being seen with, like, who they are, what do they do, and why you shouldn't use them alongside why you should be using them? I'd love to hear your comments in the comment section. Should they remove it or is brand names being seen in Google AI Overview a positive thing? Kasra, thank you very much.