Yext vs Yum! Brands

Promptwatch CEO on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

Promptwatch founder and CEO Gijs de Groot discusses how search behavior is shifting from traditional engines like Google to AI-driven systems, and why brands must optimize across a broader information ecosystem—what he calls Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Promptwatch, founded in March 2025, offers a platform that measures brand visibility in AI dialog systems, uses CDN log data and other signals to recommend technical and editorial optimizations, and has introduced a new solution called "Agentic AI Search Optimization" that can apply optimizations automatically. De Groot stresses the continuing importance of owned websites, high-quality content, and trusted sources while warning against mass low-quality AI content and an exclusive reliance on LLM-centered strategies.

• Promptwatch was founded in March 2025.
• Promptwatch offers a platform to optimize brand visibility in AI-driven dialog systems and to measure visibility in language-model answers.
• Promptwatch's entry packages start at €85 per month; the company also offers business licenses and enterprise solutions.

AI reshapes local search; chatbots join Google

Yext's "Consumer Search Behaviors Report 2026" finds that AI is increasingly a starting point for local search but has not displaced traditional search engines. 84% of respondents say they use such applications more often than a year ago. While 77% still search for nearby businesses via conventional search engines, 41% use AI tools and 39% use social networks. In Germany, 27% of consumers say an AI recommendation led them to contact or visit a previously unvisited local business in the past six months, especially restaurants. Trust in AI answers is mixed: 79% partly trust AI responses, 11% fully trust them, and 96% verify AI answers via other sources. The report signals a hybrid customer journey in which chatbots initiate discovery and users then consult search engines, websites and reviews.

• Yext's "Consumer Search Behaviors Report 2026" found 84% of respondents use search/AI applications more frequently than a year ago.
• 77% of respondents still search for nearby businesses via traditional search engines; AI tools are used by 41% and social networks by 39%.
• 27% of German consumers reported contacting or visiting a previously unvisited local business due to an AI recommendation in the past six months; 48% of those visits were to restaurants, 44% to retail, and 37% to health services.

Why AI Agents Don't Work Without Competitive Intelligence

Here's how Action Center turns Yext Scout’s hyper-local competitive intelligence into agentic execution that actually moves the needle on AI visibility.

Yum! Brands Appoints Former HanesBrands CEO Steve Bratspies to Board of Directors

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) today announced the appointment of Stephen ("Steve") B. Bratspies, former Chief Executive Officer of HanesBrands, Inc., to its Board of Directors, effective August 26, 2026.