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- Google's AI Research Agent Now Open to All!
Google's AI Research Agent Now Open to All!
Plus new AI marketing tools and the rise of autonomous campaign agents
Aleric Heck
December 20, 2025
In partnership with
The AI marketing landscape just shifted in a big way, and I couldn't wait to share what's happening. Google dropped something that has major implications for how we'll all approach research, competitive intelligence, and content strategy going forward.
But that's just the headline. We're also seeing a fascinating pattern emerge across the martech world: autonomous AI agents are no longer theoretical—they're shipping in production-ready platforms from major players like Blueshift, Clinch, and IAS. The "year of AI agents" is officially delivering.
📍 In Today's Newsletter:
Google's reimagined Gemini Deep Research and what the new developer API means for your workflow
Plus new AI marketing tools worth exploring (including a $15/month video solution)
The shift from AI-assisted to AI-autonomous marketing—and how to prepare
A practical pro tip for using research agents in your competitive analysis
Let's dive in.
📈 Today's Top AI Marketing Story
Google Opens Gemini Deep Research to Developers
This is the development I'm most excited about this week. Google just released a "reimagined" version of Gemini Deep Research, now powered by Gemini 3 Pro—and here's what makes it significant: they've opened it up to developers through a new Interactions API.
What does this mean in practice? Organizations can now embed research capabilities directly into their own applications and workflows. We're moving from "use this research tool" to "build research into everything you do."
The early results are promising. GV (Google Ventures) reports the tool has shortened their research cycles from days to hours without sacrificing quality. Axiom Bio's co-founder describes it as surfacing "granular data and evidence at and beyond what previously only a human researcher could do."
A word of caution: The tool scored 46.4% on the Humanity's Last Exam benchmark, meaning it still fails the majority of expert-level questions. For high-stakes marketing decisions, human verification remains essential. Think of it as a research accelerator, not a replacement for critical thinking.
🎯 Why This Matters for You
This signals a broader shift: research and intelligence are becoming embedded capabilities rather than standalone tools. The competitive advantage is moving from "who can gather information" to "who can act on insights faster."
⚡ QUICK WIN: Start experimenting with Gemini Deep Research for competitive intelligence. Try prompting it to examine your market's trends, consumer behaviors, and growth opportunities. The "show thinking" feature reveals its research methodology—use this to verify sources before acting on recommendations.
🚀 AI Marketing Quick Hits
Agentic AI Goes Production-Ready
The martech world delivered a wave of autonomous agent announcements this week:
Blueshift launched Compass and Launchpad—AI agents that translate customer data directly into campaign actions. No more manual interpretation; the system handles execution.
Clinch unveiled Predict IQ Scores, which evaluates creative assets before launch using AI analysis. They also released data agents within Flight Control for content orchestration and cross-channel analytics.
IAS released IAS Agent for real-time campaign insights, analyzing media quality and surfacing relevant data during active campaigns.
Infillion announced Agent Connector, a modular system managing AI-driven media buying through composable agents.
Why This Matters: We're watching the transition from "AI helps you work" to "AI works alongside you." These aren't copilots—they're autonomous systems designed to handle complete workflows.
Voice & Conversational Interfaces Take Center Stage
Following ChatGPT Voice integration in late November, voice-first optimization is becoming operationalized across marketing stacks. The trend includes voice SEO optimization, audio branding gaining parity with visual identity, and podcast-style content dominating discovery algorithms.
✅ Action Item: Start thinking about how your brand sounds, not just how it looks. Voice search optimization and audio branding are no longer nice-to-haves.
AI-Driven Traffic Surges 800%+ Year-Over-Year
Black Friday 2025 data revealed AI-driven traffic to retail sites rose more than 800% compared to last year. Instagram Shopping is generating 89% more clicks than standard posts, and Shopping Reels saw 156% YoY growth.
Why This Matters: If you're not optimizing for AI discovery and social commerce, you're missing a rapidly growing traffic source.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Becomes Operational
Brands are now executing specific tactics for AI visibility: creating AI-only websites, expanding blog and Reddit content for AI indexing, and securing coverage in editorial "best of" lists that AI systems ingest.
✅ Action Item: Audit how AI assistants describe your brand. Try asking ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini about your product category and see where you appear (or don't).
🔍 Featured AI Tool Spotlight
Apollo.io Expands with AI-Powered Web Scanning
Apollo.io just expanded its capabilities in a way that caught my attention for anyone doing prospecting or competitive research.
What's New:
The platform now includes 103M+ verified companies in its living web dataset, but here's what's interesting: they've added AI agents that scan the entire web for custom datapoints beyond traditional database information. This means you can find insights competitors miss because they're only searching static databases.
What You Can Do With It:
The complete TAM (Total Addressable Market) extraction with decision-maker targeting is particularly valuable for agencies managing multiple client verticals. The AI agents can surface opportunities that aren't in standard prospecting databases.
Pricing: Free features include 1,000 company or 500 person exports and 3-column simultaneous enrichment. Premium tiers available for expanded access.
The Opportunity: Apollo claims users can book 40-50% more meetings by uncovering opportunities competitors miss. That's a bold claim worth testing if you're in B2B marketing or sales.
💡 PRO INSIGHT: Combine Apollo's AI-powered prospecting with your audience targeting strategy. The custom datapoint scanning can help identify niche segments you might miss with traditional demographic targeting alone.
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🛠️ More AI Tools Worth Exploring
Knowledge & Productivity
Remio 2.0 - Personal AI Assistant (Windows)
Personalized ChatGPT alternative powered by your knowledge base
Unlimited free recording transcription
AI copilot working across multiple applications
Local-first design with 100% privacy protection
Notis - Cross-Platform AI Assistant
Now upgraded to GPT-5.2 as base model
GPT-image-1.5 for image generation
Works via WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram, or email
Bulk sync capabilities with Notion
Brand & SEO
BrandGuard AI - Brand Monitoring
Improved AI visibility crawler
New Google Search Engine integration
Monitor how AI systems perceive your brand
Thrillax - AI-First SEO Framework
SEO framework aligned with how AI retrieves and presents search information
Designed for the GEO era
Professional & Real Estate
LinkedIn Profile Analyzer - Profile Optimization
Premium tier ($19.99 one-time): AI Chat Assistant, AI-Powered Rewrites, PDF export
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Free tier includes full positioning analysis and scoring
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Jude AI - Real Estate Tech
AI Video Generator for property videos from listing photos
One-click property owner outreach with AI-generated postcards
Grok-powered personalized SMS suggestions
Custom domain system
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💡 Pro Tip of the Day
Using Research Agents for Competitive Intelligence
Here's a workflow I'm excited to explore with Gemini Deep Research (and you can adapt this for other research tools):
Step 1: Start with a specific, criteria-rich prompt
Instead of: "Research my competitors"
Try: "Examine the content marketing strategies of [Competitor A, B, C] from October-December 2025, including: content formats used, publishing frequency, engagement metrics where visible, and emerging topic themes. Present findings in a comparison table."
Step 2: Use the "show thinking" feature
This reveals the research methodology and sources. Verify key claims before acting on them—remember, even the best AI tools need human validation for strategic decisions.
Step 3: Export and operationalize
Deep Research can export organization charts and structured data to CSV. Use this to build prospect lists, content calendars, or competitive positioning documents.
Step 4: Set up recurring research cycles
What used to take days now takes hours. Consider establishing weekly competitive intelligence reviews using these tools.
📌 IMPORTANT NOTE: Research agents accelerate information gathering, but the strategic interpretation remains your competitive advantage. Use the time saved to think more deeply about what the data means for your specific situation.
⚡ KeywordSearch.com Feature Spotlight
Speaking of competitive intelligence and audience targeting—all this research is only valuable if you can act on it.
That's where the connection becomes clear: understanding your market is step one, but reaching the right audience with precision is where results happen.
KeywordSearch.com's AI Audience Builder takes the insights you gather and translates them into actionable targeting:
✨ What You Get:
AI-powered audience creation in seconds (average setup: 2.6 minutes)
One-click sync to Google & YouTube Ads
100k+ competitor ad examples for inspiration
Pre-built targeting templates for every niche
While you're using research agents to understand your market, KeywordSearch helps you reach exactly the right people within it.
📊 The Big Picture: Where AI Marketing Is Heading
The pattern across this week's announcements is unmistakable: we're transitioning from AI-assisted marketing to AI-autonomous marketing.
What's Changing:
Research capabilities are becoming embedded (Google's Interactions API). Campaign execution is becoming autonomous (Blueshift Compass, Clinch data agents). Creative evaluation happens before launch, not after (Clinch Predict IQ). Media buying runs on composable agent architectures (Infillion Agent Connector).
What This Means for You:
The marketers who thrive in this environment won't be the ones who resist these tools—they'll be the ones who learn to orchestrate them effectively. Your role is evolving from executor to strategist and quality controller.
The Numbers Behind the Shift:
The AI marketing market reached $47.32 billion in 2025 and is projected to hit $107.5 billion by 2028. 88% of marketers are now using AI daily. 93% report creating content faster with AI.
The question isn't whether to adopt these tools—it's how quickly you can integrate them into workflows that maintain quality and strategic coherence.
That's a wrap for today's AI marketing developments. The pace of change is accelerating, but that's what makes this moment so interesting—and why staying informed matters more than ever.
Aleric & Greg KeywordSearch.com
P.S. Curious how AI can supercharge your ad targeting? Take KeywordSearch for a test drive with our unlimited 5-day free trial and see for yourself. Start here →
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