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AI Exposes Fragile SEO Strategies. Apple Eyes Perplexity as BBC threatens To Sue

Here's a bitter pill to swallow, AI may have just exposed your SEO hacks as unreal strategies. Meanwhile, Apple’s rumored AI search ambitions just collided with Perplexity’s first legal entanglement with BBC. Is this about copyright, or is it a move to protect Google’s turf (as Perplexity claims)?

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Welcome to Click Raven’s Growth Grind Newsletter that brings you all the best news regarding SEO and marketing.

This week, AI headlines got personal.

  • Apple is reportedly eyeing an acquisition of Perplexity, the rising AI search engine.

  • Meanwhile, the BBC is threatening to sue Perplexity for lifting its content without permission.

  • And over in SEO, the truth might sting: AI didn’t kill your SEO strategy. You just didn’t have one built to last.

So what’s really going on?

On paper, the BBC vs. Perplexity story is about copyright. But dig deeper, and it sounds like a battle between legacy media and AI upstarts with a strategic Apple-sized twist in the middle.

If Apple embeds Perplexity’s tech, marketers may be looking at a whole new front in the search landscape. One that bypasses Google entirely.

Scroll for the full breakdown on what this means for your brand’s visibility, plus a watercooler section that will make you rethink the possibilities of AI.

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📉 AI Didn’t Break SEO;It Exposed Weak SEO Strategies

It has been said that basics aren't the foundation, they are the structure, and hasn’t AI just proven that? Especially for us in the SEO industry.

While many blame AI for declining traffic, it hasn’t rewritten the rules.

AI simply exposed weaknesses in content strategies that were never built to last.

It separated the brands with real value from the ones riding on SEO hacks like content mills, keyword-stuffed FAQs, and bloated blogs as echoed by Victorious.

The takeaway?

Brands that prioritized search intent, user value, and trust signals are thriving.

Depending on your approach, you could reap gains or losses in your traffic.

Marketers need to stop chasing rankings and start aligning SEO with how people actually learn and decide today. That means:

  • 🔍 Map content to real user intent (informational, commercial, transactional) and customer journey

  • 🧠 Double down on expertise, trust, and original value in your content

  • 📈 Measure success by conversions not clicks or sessions

  • 🤝 Integrate AI tools and adapt to evolving platforms like ChatGPT and Bing

Search isn’t static. It's everywhere now-SERPs, AI summaries, bots.

And no, SEO isn’t dead. It’s just finally being done right.

⚖️ BBC vs. Perplexity: Is This the First of Many AI Lawsuits?

The BBC just fired a legal warning shot against AI search startup Perplexity and AI firms should take notice.

Claims? Copyright infringement and reproducing BBC content verbatim, without permission.

The BBC wants Perplexity to:

  • Stop using its content

  • Delete stored material

  • Pay compensation for the already used material

🧠 Why it matters:

It’s the BBC’s first legal action against an AI company.

Perplexity allegedly ignored robots.txt directives designed to block scraping. BBC says that’s a big no-no.

The AI chatbot has also been flagged for inaccurate summaries, damaging the BBC’s editorial reputation.

📉 Industry reaction:

The UK’s publishing industry is already mobilizing around AI-related copyright concerns, warning that this practice threatens a £4.4B publishing industry.

Perplexity denies wrongdoing, says it doesn’t train its models on scraped content (but didn’t explain how it uses the data).

🚨 For marketers:

  • Audit your AI tools

    Are you using outputs that might be sourced from unlicensed content?

  • Watch for policy shifts.

    Legal action may force vendors to adopt clearer sourcing and licensing standards.

  • Stay alert, this might be lawsuit #1 in a long list to come.

AI’s content party is getting a knock at the door. If you’re publishing AI-assisted content, know where it came from.

The WaterCooler

Would you bring a loved one back—if only for 6 seconds?

Here's a wild one: Alexis Ohanian (Reddit co-founder, Serena Williams' husband) posted a 20-year-old photo of him hugging his late mother.

Sweet, right?

But then he used Midjourney's new AI video tool to animate it, making his mom rock him back and forth like she's alive again.

The result: A 36-second lifelike hug that got 20.4 million views.

A live Black Mirror moment! AI just pulled movement from a moment 20 years frozen in time.

Ohanian was genuinely moved by the generated video, giving him a peek into what could have been.

But that sweet moment for him, turned the comment section into a battlefield.

While a majority were unsettled by the content, with some people calling it "black tar heroin" and a "cognitive headshot “, there was a sprinkling of thers who thought it a good thing that AI could reacreate our fond memories. 

Would you ever use AI to reanimate a memory? Or is this one prompt too far?

Could Perplexity Be Apple's $20B Answer to Google Search?

The move could signal Apple’s intent to build a native, AI-powered search experience, one that might replace or rival Google as the default on Apple devices.

While no deal is confirmed, here are the possible scenarios:

  • Integrating Perplexity’s tech into iOS

  • Fully acquiring the company to upgrade Siri

  • Build Apple’s own AI-driven search engine.

📊Why it matters for marketers:

  • If Apple integrates Perplexity, it could introduce a closed-loop AI search ecosystem.

    This means fewer links, more direct answers and less visibility for traditional SEO content.

  • For mobile commerce, it may make voice-first marketing strategies essential rather than optional.

  • It may also mean the end of Google's dominance on iOS devices, reshaping paid and organic mobile strategy.

👉 With Apple catching up in AI, it’s a potential redefinition of how 1.5+ billion Apple users engage with search and how brands get visibility.

💬 I’d love to hear from you.

Which of these tactics are you most excited to try—or already using? Just hit reply and let me know.

And if you found this helpful, forward it to a friend or team member who’s serious about growth. Let’s win together.

Until next time, have a good one!
The Growth Grind Team,
Part of Click Raven, Inc.