Separate structural change from noise
Understand how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews are changing discovery, citations, and the role of organic traffic.
Fernando Angulo · Market research leader
A long view of how people discover, evaluate, and choose brands.
I research how people and AI systems discover, evaluate, and choose brands, then turn that evidence into decisions marketing leaders can defend. Today, I am Senior Market Research Manager at Semrush, an Adobe company.
The executive brief
Signal→
Implication→
Decision
Proof, not promises
Built for senior rooms, tested on global stages.
4.9/5Average rating across 500+ talks
50+Speaking engagements per year
150,000+Professionals reached
I loved your session and there were a lot of interesting comments in the chat.
Selected stages
BrightonSEO
SMX Advanced
MozCon
Google Search Central
ESOMAR
GEO Conference
For leadership teams
Make the AI-search shift decision-ready.
Most teams do not need another trend presentation. They need a shared language for a market shift that affects brand visibility, demand generation, and measurement at the same time.
Best fit: B2B CMOs, VPs of Marketing, senior SEO and demand-generation leaders, conference audiences, and enterprise teams across the US and Europe.
Give teams one strategic language
Connect GEO, AEO, and agentic search to business outcomes without requiring the audience to be technical SEO specialists.
Leave with a defensible direction
Take a practical framework back to the leadership team: what to measure, where to focus, and which assumptions to challenge.
Research-backed and funded by Semrush
Check event fit →
There is no personal speaker fee. Engagements are selected on audience fit and potential impact, not budget.
The long view
Three chapters.
Three chapters.
One through-line.
Fernando’s career has followed the same pattern for 15 years: understand a market transition early, build the relationships and systems around it, then translate the signal for people making consequential decisions.
This is Fernando Angulo at Semrush, the AI-search researcher and keynote speaker. He is not the Spanish basketball player or the Peruvian ornithologist with the same name.
Build the growth engine
Joined Semrush as employee #20, helped build marketing from the ground up, and developed an international partner network spanning 200+ influencers in 20+ countries.
Translate data across markets
Led communications and influencer marketing while taking Semrush insights to 50+ speaking engagements a year across 35+ countries and major international media.
Research the next search interface
Now leads original research on AI-search behavior, citations, GEO, AEO, and agentic search using Semrush data, turning findings into frameworks for executive audiences.
Credentials & Affiliations
Industry Recognition
Active memberships and judging roles across academic research and performance-marketing bodies.
ESOMAR Member
European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research · international academic and market-research body · individual member since 2024
Pavilion Associate
Pavilion · private community for B2B go-to-market leaders
Germany E-commerce Awards Judge
Annual industry awards recognising excellence in German e-commerce and digital retail
US & UK Performance Marketing Awards Judge
Performance Marketing World · transatlantic awards recognising data-driven marketing excellence
AI & Innovation Certificate Program
Founderz, endorsed by Microsoft · 2025
Master’s in International Relations & Economics
Saint Petersburg State University of Finance and Economics · 2008
Trilingual Speaker
English · Spanish · Russian · 35+ countries delivered in native language
15+ Years
Inside Semrush since 2011
Employee #20. A longitudinal view of search behavior no outside consultant has, from the blue-link era to AI citations, built on billions of queries.
50+
Conferences / Year
35+
Countries Visited
EN
ES
RU
3 Languages
4.9/5
Average rating across 500+ talks. Trusted by marketing leaders at Fortune 500 companies and global tech startups.
The Journey of Strategic Growth
Fernando Angulo joined Semrush in 2011 as employee #20 and helped build it from a 20-person startup into a publicly traded search-data platform. As Senior Market Research Manager at Semrush, an Adobe company, he now leads original research on how AI engines decide which brands to cite, and delivers it from 50+ stages a year across the US and Europe.
Market Intelligence
Global Presence
AI Research
Featured in & speaking at
CNBC
El Financiero · Bloomberg
Econsultancy
ESOMAR
Entrepreneur
Career milestones
15 years building the future
15 years building the future
of market intelligence
2026
AI Fluency Framework & Foundations
Anthropic
Completed two Anthropic AI Fluency certifications: Framework & Foundations and AI Fluency for Educators. Formal grounding in working effectively with frontier AI systems, informs the GEO and AI search research presented in keynotes.
2023 – Present
Senior Market Research Manager
Semrush
Leading original research on how generative AI is reshaping consumer search behavior, using Semrush’s dataset of billions of queries. Published academic work on AI’s impact on marketing and consumer trust, presented at ESOMAR and international conferences. Active in MCP (Model Context Protocol) pilot work with enterprise clients. Recognized as a judge for the Germany E-commerce Awards and US & UK Performance Marketing Awards.
2022 – 2023
Head of Influencer Marketing
Semrush
Led Semrush’s global influencer marketing program, formalising the partner network into a measurable growth channel and bridging brand-side communications into the analyst-relations function that followed.
2019 – 2022
Head of Communications
Semrush
One of the most recognized faces of the Semrush brand. Represented the company at 50+ conferences annually across 35+ countries, travelling to 3–4 countries per month to share data-driven insights. Featured by CNBC and El Financiero · Bloomberg México for commentary on search and marketing trends.
2013 – 2019
Head of International Partnerships
Semrush
Introduced influencer marketing as a key element of Semrush's global growth strategy. Built a network of 200+ influencers across 20+ countries and established strategic partnerships that helped scale Semrush from startup to global authority.
2011
Joined Semrush, Employee #20
Semrush
Joined Semrush when it was a startup with fewer than 20 people. Built the marketing department from the ground up and played a key role in scaling the company, personally reviewing 3,000–4,000 candidates and hiring around 200 people across marketing, sales, customer success, and HR. As part of the company's C-level leadership, contributed to the transformation from a small startup into a publicly traded global leader in competitive intelligence.
2010
First Steps in SEO
SEOquake Team
Gained hands-on experience in search analytics and competitive intelligence tools. This role laid the foundation for a deep understanding of how search engines work, knowledge that now informs research on how AI is disrupting those same systems.
2002 – 2008
Master’s in International Relations and Affairs
Saint Petersburg State University of Finance and Economics
Six-year Master’s programme with specialisation in Economics and Business Strategy. Built the analytical foundation for a career in global market research and international communications.
2009 – 2011
Bachelor’s in Foreign Languages and Literatures
ÀÏÏÎ ÁÏÁ (St. Petersburg)
Postgraduate Bachelor’s programme deepening multilingual fluency, foundation for the trilingual (Spanish, English, Russian) keynote work that followed across 35+ countries.
Research focus
Six areas where the data
Six areas where the data
tells a different story
Search-to-AI Migration
How consumers are shifting from Google to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google's own AI answers. Tracking this migration through Semrush's 2026 AI Visibility Index, 126M AI-search prompts across 22 verticals.
The Zero-Click Economy
What it means for brands, publishers, and the future of organic visibility when the majority of searches now end without a click to any website.
60%+ searches = zero clicksCross-Platform AI Visibility
Why the four AI engines, ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and AI Overviews, name and cite different brands, and what it takes to show up consistently across all of them.
Mentions vs Citations
Why being named in an AI answer and being cited as its source are separate metrics, earned through separate mechanisms, and how brands win both.
Answer Engine Optimization
Preparing brands for a world where AI generates the answers, not just the rankings. Frameworks for optimizing visibility across AI-powered platforms.
AI & Consumer Trust
Academic research on how generative AI is reshaping consumer trust in search results. Published findings presented at ESOMAR and international conferences.
Behind the work
In the field
A few moments from conference stages, offsites, training sessions, and the editorial side of the work.
Active research projects
Where the next big shifts are
AI vs. Search, How Generative AI Is Rewiring Online Behavior
Tracking the migration from traditional search engines to AI answer systems using Semrush's dataset of billions of queries.
Read researchWhat Happens When 60%+ of Searches End Without a Click
The structural shift in organic visibility and what brands must do now to maintain presence in a zero-click world.
Read researchPredictive Commerce & the Future of E-Commerce
AI predicts consumer intent before the query happens, and what this means for e-commerce strategy and conversion optimization.
Explore blogAnswer Engine Optimization, Frameworks for an AI-First Search Landscape
Practical GEO frameworks developed from real enterprise implementations and validated against Semrush AI visibility data.
Read research
AI Search 2026 · By the Numbers
The data behind the research.
Every stat below is dated and sourced. These are the numbers I cite on stage and in research. Last updated May 2026.
+49%
Google impressions YoY
AI Overviews surface more brands per query, inflating impressions while clicks collapse.
−30%
Organic CTR on AI Overview queries
Visibility is up. Clicks are down. The gap between being seen and being chosen is widening.
+120%
Click premium when cited in AI Overviews
Cited brands earn ~120% more organic clicks per impression than uncited brands on the same query.
8%
Click-through on organic when AI summary is shown
When Google shows an AI Overview, only 8% of users click an organic result. Citation IS the click.
11%
Citation overlap: ChatGPT vs Perplexity
Only 11% of cited domains appear in both engines. Optimizing for one will not get you the other.
21.87
Avg. citations per Perplexity answer
Perplexity routes traffic to ~22 sources per response, an order of magnitude more than a 10-link SERP.
14.2%
Conversion rate from AI search traffic
Vs. 2.8% from Google organic. AI-referred users arrive pre-qualified by the answer that sent them.
#1
Wikipedia cited source in 4 of 5 verticals
Structural legibility beats prose. Wikipedia ranks #1 or #2 in 4 of 5 industries Semrush tested.
60%+
Google searches end without a click
The majority of searches now resolve inside the SERP. Traffic is no longer the only KPI worth tracking.
Frequently Asked
About Fernando Angulo
The questions people, search engines, and AI assistants ask most often.
Who is Fernando Angulo?
Fernando Angulo is the Senior Market Research Manager at Semrush and a global keynote speaker on AI search, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and digital market intelligence. He has been with Semrush since 2011 (employee #20) and presents at 50+ conferences each year across 35+ countries in English, Spanish, and Russian.
What does Fernando Angulo specialize in?
Fernando’s research focuses on how generative AI is reshaping consumer search behavior, specifically how AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity decide which sources to cite, what English-trained models miss for the 500M+ Spanish-speaking market, and how brands earn visibility in the zero-click economy. His expertise covers AI search, GEO, AEO, cross-platform AI visibility, and competitive intelligence.
What is Fernando Angulo’s role at Semrush?
As Senior Market Research Manager at Semrush, an Adobe company, Fernando leads original research using Semrush’s proprietary dataset of billions of queries to study how generative AI is reshaping consumer search behavior. He has held progressively senior research and communications roles at Semrush since 2011, when he joined as employee #20.
Where has Fernando Angulo spoken?
Fernando has keynoted at 500+ events across 35+ countries, including DMWF, ESOMAR, DigiMarCon, Search Central, Digital Marketing Europe, the GEO Conference, and Croatia SEO Summit 2026. Upcoming engagements include GEO Conference 2026 in Washington D.C. and AI Summit Barcelona 2026.
What original research has Fernando Angulo published?
Fernando publishes original research on AI search and GEO at fernandoangulo.com/blog. Most-cited pieces include the AI Maturity Model for Business, the Zero-Click SERP Playbook, How AI Overviews Decide Who to Cite, and the Spanish-Language AI Search Blind Spot. He has been featured by CNBC and El Financiero · Bloomberg México, quoted in ABC, Cinco Días and El Economista, and interviewed by Econsultancy, Authority Magazine, Marketecture, and the Edge of the Web podcast. His bylines appear in Search Engine Journal and Entrepreneur India.
How can I book Fernando Angulo as a keynote speaker?
Speaking inquiries go through the /invite page or directly via LinkedIn. There is no personal speaker fee: Semrush funds Fernando's research and stage time, and engagements are selected on audience fit rather than budget. The full speaker kit includes bio, photos, signature talks, and previous engagements. Fernando speaks in English, Spanish, and Russian.
Work with Fernando
Ready to bring real data to your stage?
Every keynote is backed by Semrush's proprietary research, not recycled frameworks. From 500-person industry conferences to C-suite strategy sessions, the content is built specifically for your audience. Semrush funds the research and the stage time, so there is no speaker fee to your event: engagements are selected on audience fit, not budget.