Thenuka Karunaratne (daydream) on Building SEO Moats with AI

03/11/25 • 34 min

In this episode, Thenuka Karunaratne shares how companies can create sustainable competitive advantages ("moats") in SEO as AI transforms search. With extensive experience in programmatic SEO, Thenuka explains why simply using AI to generate content isn't enough — the real advantage comes from proprietary data and strategic implementation.

Despite warning against "SEO on autopilot," Thenuka demonstrates the remarkable results possible with thoughtful AI integration. His case study with Twingate shows how programmatically created content quickly generated 50,000 monthly visits, with 20% of their demo page traffic coming from this content.

About Our Guest: Thenuka Karunaratne

Thenuka Karunaratne is the co-founder and CEO of daydream, a platform that automates programmatic SEO. Founded in 2023 with $3.8M in seed funding, daydream builds on Thenuka's experience creating high-performance programmatic SEO systems.

Before daydream, he founded Flixed, a streaming industry lead generation business that leveraged programmatic SEO to send over 100,000 subscribers to services like HBO, Disney, and Hulu.

About This Season of the Animalz Podcast: AI & Content

Hello... is there anybody out there creating real value with AI?

The AI conversation in content marketing has become deafening — skeptics shouting from one side, shallow tips from enthusiasts on the other. But somewhere in this noise, there must be pioneers who've actually figured something out, right?

We've gone on a search for the real pioneers — the ones who've ventured beyond the hype to succeed (or fail) spectacularly. Through their hard-won insights, we'll discover if there's actually something of value hiding in the noise, or if we're all just shouting into the void.

Timestamps

00:00 Why most content teams lack visibility in AI-driven search

01:30 Thenuka’s background in SEO and streaming

03:30 From affiliate sites to building a programmatic SEO platform

06:00 The problem with manual approaches to long-tail SEO

08:30 Two major changes in search: AI answer engines and programmatic content

11:00 Tools for measuring brand visibility in AI answer engines

13:00 Why “SEO on autopilot” is a marketing myth

15:30 How AI can automate the strategic aspects of growth marketing

19:00 Why the future of SEO requires more technical expertise

21:00 Twingate case study: using data breaches to drive programmatic SEO

25:00 Why proprietary data becomes your competitive moat

27:30 How SEO is becoming a product function rather than marketing

29:00 The future of search when “computers talk to computers”

Mentioned Links & Resources

Unbroken (00:01:40): The biography of Olympian Louis Zamperini.

Flixed (00:03:00): Thenuka's previous programmatic SEO business.

ChatGPT and Perplexity (00:07:30): AI answer engines changing search behavior.

Zapier (00:09:10): Tool mentioned in the AI answer engine discussion.

Daydream Library (00:12:00): Where Thenuka announced their AI visibility tool.

Twingate (00:21:00): Featured in the 50,000-visit case study.

Coinbase, Airbnb, and Pinterest (00:26:30): Companies where SEO functions as a product capability.

Nexus (00:29:00): A book by Yuval Noah Harari mentioned in the post-interview discussion about finance and AI.

Follow Thenuka and daydream at at withdaydream.com or on LinkedIn or X.

Enjoyed this conversation? Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, or head over to https://animalz.co/podcast.

You can also follow us on X (https://x.com/AnimalzCo) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/animalz/).

About Our Guest: Thenuka Karunaratne

Before daydream, he founded Flixed, a streaming industry lead generation business that leveraged programmatic SEO to send over 100,000 subscribers to services like HBO, Disney, and Hulu.

About This Season of the Animalz Podcast: AI & Content

Hello... is there anybody out there creating real value with AI?

Timestamps

00:00 Why most content teams lack visibility in AI-driven search

01:30 Thenuka’s background in SEO and streaming

03:30 From affiliate sites to building a programmatic SEO platform

06:00 The problem with manual approaches to long-tail SEO

08:30 Two major changes in search: AI answer engines and programmatic content

11:00 Tools for measuring brand visibility in AI answer engines

13:00 Why “SEO on autopilot” is a marketing myth

15:30 How AI can automate the strategic aspects of growth marketing

19:00 Why the future of SEO requires more technical expertise

21:00 Twingate case study: using data breaches to drive programmatic SEO

25:00 Why proprietary data becomes your competitive moat

27:30 How SEO is becoming a product function rather than marketing

29:00 The future of search when “computers talk to computers”

Mentioned Links & Resources

Unbroken (00:01:40): The biography of Olympian Louis Zamperini.

Flixed (00:03:00): Thenuka's previous programmatic SEO business.

ChatGPT and Perplexity (00:07:30): AI answer engines changing search behavior.

Zapier (00:09:10): Tool mentioned in the AI answer engine discussion.

Daydream Library (00:12:00): Where Thenuka announced their AI visibility tool.

Twingate (00:21:00): Featured in the 50,000-visit case study.

Coinbase, Airbnb, and Pinterest (00:26:30): Companies where SEO functions as a product capability.

Nexus (00:29:00): A book by Yuval Noah Harari mentioned in the post-interview discussion about finance and AI.

Follow Thenuka and daydream at at withdaydream.com or on LinkedIn or X.

Enjoyed this conversation? Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, or head over to https://animalz.co/podcast.

You can also follow us on X (https://x.com/AnimalzCo) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/animalz/).

Previous Episode

Kyle Coleman (copy.ai) on Building Trust at Scale with AI-Synthesized Content

In this episode, Kyle Coleman, CMO at copy.ai, brings clarity and practical wisdom to the AI content conversation. His perspective is positive, practical, and backed by remarkable results: over $50 million in pipeline generated for copy.ai with just $37,000 spent on demand generation.

Kyle introduces the concept of "AI-synthesized content" as distinct from "AI-generated content" — a framework that maintains human thinking and authenticity while dramatically scaling production. He articulates content's fundamental purpose as "building trust at scale" and demonstrates how thoughtfully implemented AI workflows can create content that remains authentic while becoming dramatically more scalable.

About Our Guest: Kyle Coleman

Kyle Coleman is the CMO at copy.ai, an AI platform for go-to-market use cases. His career began at Looker, where as the sixth employee he helped grow the company to $110 million in revenue and a $2.5 billion acquisition by Google.

Kyle then spent five years at Clari, moving from demand generation to leading all marketing as CMO, helping scale the company 8x in revenue. He's built a significant personal brand on LinkedIn, recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice with over 130,000 followers.

About This Season of the Animalz Podcast: AI & Content

Hello... is there anybody out there creating real value with AI?

Timestamps

00:00 "Do your research, know your audience, be a person"

02:00 Kyle's journey from Looker to copy.ai

06:00 Building a LinkedIn audience since 2020

08:30 AI enhances fundamentals but doesn't replace them

12:00 Kyle's voice memo to LinkedIn post workflow

13:00 The difference between AI-synthesized and AI-generated content

19:00 Why content marketers remain skeptical of AI

23:00 Systematic thinking for successful AI adoption

27:00 "People who like writing are people who like thinking"

29:00 $50M pipeline on $37K spend: copy.ai's content flywheel

32:00 "Effective content builds trust at scale"

36:00 The new content culture is a workflow culture

Mentioned Links & Resources

Clari and Looker (00:02:00): Companies where Kyle built his marketing career before joining copy.ai.
Copy.ai (00:03:00): Kyle's company, providing AI tools for content marketing and sales workflows.
Founders (00:04:00): A podcast Kyle recommends that offers summaries of founder biographies.
Acquired (00:04:00): Long-form podcast Kyle recommends with episodes on Mars, IKEA, and Sony.
Outreach and Salesloft (00:07:00): Sales platforms Kyle references when discussing outbound tactics.
LinkedIn Top Voice recognition (00:10:00): Kyle's 2020 recognition for sales content.
ChatGPT and Claude (00:19:00): AI tools Kyle mentions when explaining content creation limitations.
Nathan Thompson (00:28:00): copy.ai's Head of Content Strategy and former Animalz strategist.
Devin Reed (00:32:00): Kyle's colleague who coined "effective content builds trust at scale."
Follow Kyle Coleman on LinkedIn.

Enjoyed this conversation?
Subscribe to our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, or head over to https://animalz.co/podcast.

You can also follow us on X (https://x.com/AnimalzCo) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/animalz/).

Next Episode

Stewart Hillhouse on the AI Playbook for Tomorrow’s Content Teams

In this episode, Stewart Hillhouse shares a refreshingly practical perspective on how content teams can thrive in an AI-accelerated environment. Fresh from a three-year run as Head of Content at Mutiny and now heading to StoryArb as VP of Content, Stewart offers concrete workflows, AI prompting techniques, and a clear vision for how content teams should restructure for maximum impact.

His approach emphasizes both speed and creativity—advocating for shorter planning horizons, integrated quarterly campaigns, and transparent marketing that acknowledges the audience's sophistication. Most importantly, he provides a framework for the "content team of the future" that leverages AI for operational tasks while positioning humans as strategic directors and personality-driven marketers.

About Our Guest: Stewart Hillhouse

Stewart Hillhouse has just completed a three-year tenure as Head of Content at Mutiny, where he developed campaigns that generated millions in pipeline while witnessing the company's growth from Series A through the emergence of generative AI. His background is unconventional — he started his career in forestry before making a pivot into content marketing through a self-initiated podcast where he interviewed marketing leaders.

Stewart is now beginning a new chapter as VP of Content at storyarb, where he'll focus on newsletter and narrative editorial content. Throughout his career, he has maintained a commitment to experimentation and knowledge-sharing, regularly publishing his techniques and insights for the broader marketing community.

About This Season of the Animalz Podcast: AI & Content

Hello... is there anybody out there creating real value with AI?

Timestamps

00:00 "You can't think more than 90 days ahead in today's environment"
02:00 From forestry to content marketing through podcasting
05:00 Building integrated campaigns at Mutiny
07:00 The "Survivor" campaign: 10,000 participants, millions in pipeline
09:00 Why timeliness trumps perfect execution
11:00 Joining StoryArb as VP of Content
13:00 "Don't write your own prompts" - The meta AI hack
16:00 Using AI but owning the final result
18:00 Feeding AI unexpected combinations for creative output
20:00 Three foundational guardrails for consistent AI content
24:00 "I'm no longer a better writer than AI"
26:00 From creation to operations: the changing content role
27:00 The future content team: personality marketers, operators, and directors
33:00 The open source target account list campaign
36:00 Breaking the fourth wall in B2B marketing
40:00 The AI research hack: finding relevant podcast segments

Mentioned Links & Resources

Mutiny (00:05:00): Stewart's previous company, a personalization platform.
Survivor Campaign (00:07:00): Stewart's AI-focused campaign that generated millions in pipeline.
Storyarb (00:11:00): The agency Stewart is joining as VP of Content.
95% Content (00:13:00): Podcast where Stewart previously shared AI content tips.
DeepSeek (00:20:00): A newer AI model Stewart mentions.
Claude and ChatGPT (00:22:00): AI tools Stewart uses with project/memory features.
Open Source Target Account List (00:33:00): A groundbreaking ABM campaign where Mutiny publicly shared their 5,000 target accounts and created personalized microsites for each one.