3.1 Billion Visits to ChatGPT: Why Bots Win and Businesses Stall | Over the Bull® Podcast by Integris Design in Asheville, North Carolina
ChatGPT racked up over 3.1 billion visits last September—more than Bing. If that stat doesn’t make you pause, it should. In this episode, we unpack how businesses sabotage their own digital growth with outdated thinking, broken funnels, and reactive marketing….
ChatGPT racked up over 3.1 billion visits last September—more than Bing. If that stat doesn’t make you pause, it should. In this episode, we unpack how businesses sabotage their own digital growth with outdated thinking, broken funnels, and reactive marketing. If you’re tired of guessing why your site underperforms, this one’s for you.
Normalcy Bias: The Blindfold in Broad Daylight
Normalcy bias is the belief that because something has worked in the past, it will continue to work in the future. It’s the business equivalent of staying in your lane while the bridge ahead has collapsed.
We’ve seen it time and again—from Yellow Pages advertising to legacy SEO tactics. There’s comfort in the familiar, but comfort is not a business strategy. The internet today is not a fixed landscape. It’s a river. Try building on yesterday’s riverbank and you’ll find yourself underwater before the week is out.
Normalcy bias keeps businesses from adapting to AI. It keeps them clinging to superficial wins—cheap clicks, pretty designs, “we’ve always done it this way” logic—while credibility, authority, and intelligence-driven marketing drive real growth elsewhere.
Ethics in the Age of Easy Wins
Last week, we let a client go.
It was amicable. They were good people. But they were married to a flawed strategy, unwilling to part ways with a short-term high that was killing long-term opportunity. The setup was textbook: they’d hired a Google Ads manager who ran traffic to low-authority microsites—offshoots of their brand—posing as “optimized landing pages.”
The problem? These microsites didn’t build brand equity. They diluted it. They were standalone sites that looked and sounded like the real thing, but lacked any SEO value or long-term sustainability. The campaign was engineered for fast numbers—not lasting credibility.
We had a choice: make a buck off their momentum, or do the ethical thing and step back. We chose the latter. Because in a world where AI is going to decide which businesses show up and which don’t, propping up fake authority for short-term wins isn’t just foolish—it’s unethical.
Microsites vs. Real Landing Pages: Don’t Confuse the Tools
Let’s be clear: landing pages are not the enemy. Poorly deployed, standalone microsites are.
A true landing page is a custom-built page, usually within your primary domain, optimized for a single purpose—conversion. It lives inside your ecosystem. It borrows your authority. It reflects your brand. And when done correctly, it converts like crazy.
A microsite, on the other hand, is often a quickly spun-up domain with no track record, credibility, or real connection to your business. It’s designed to game ad metrics, not serve customers. Some marketers even link these phantom sites to your Google Business Profile, injecting confusion into your public brand.
Here’s the result: you spend thousands to drive traffic to a page that won’t help your SEO, won’t improve your reputation, and won’t position you for AI-based search.
It’s strategy by sleight-of-hand. And it’s going extinct.
Data Doesn’t Lie: Why Real Landing Pages Still Work
Let’s talk numbers. According to Analytify, businesses with properly optimized landing pages see conversion rates of up to 55%, while the industry average hovers around 2%–5%.
Why the gap? Because real optimization takes time. It means testing headlines, improving page speed, refining images, and crafting laser-targeted copy. It means aligning every ad with the promise of the landing page and the action you want the visitor to take.
And conversion doesn’t mean just clicking a button. It means completing a meaningful action—calling you, booking an appointment, making a purchase. When businesses pad their conversion metrics with meaningless events (like scrolling 20% of the page), they train Google’s machine learning to optimize for noise instead of signal.
Build Your Landing Pages With Strategy, Not Scaffolding
You can’t throw up a single “Contact Us” page and expect miracles. The best performing companies build multiple landing pages—targeting services, geographies, and user intent.
A 2025 Sales Genie study shows that businesses with 40+ landing pages generate over 500% more leads than those with under 10. That doesn’t mean you need 40 pages. But you do need segmentation. A plumber should have one page for sink repair, another for water heater installation, and another for emergency services.
And you can’t drive traffic to those pages without carefully constructed ad campaigns. Enter SCAGs—Single Keyword Ad Groups. SCAGs pair specific keyword searches with relevant landing pages. “Sink repair Asheville” gets its own ad and its own page. That precision matters.
What’s the missing ingredient? Time. Success isn’t plug-and-play. It’s iterative. It’s messy. It requires analysis, adjustment, and patience.
Design Without Identity Is Just Pretty Noise
Now let’s talk about Canva. Canva is to design what those microsites are to SEO. It looks good on the surface. But scratch the paint, and you’ll find structural flaws.
The real issue is sameness. If everyone is using the same Canva templates, your brand disappears into the crowd. One article called it “a sea of sameness.” And they’re right. Brand identity isn’t about dropping your logo on a cool-looking template. It’s about consistency, tone, color use, layout, and story.
Canva is a fantastic filler tool—for internal decks, light promo, maybe a quick announcement. But it’s not the foundation of a serious brand. Using it to build your logo is like using Legos to construct a skyscraper. You can do it. But should you?
The problem is this: if your brand doesn’t stand out to humans, it certainly won’t stand out to AI.
Don’t Let AI Leave You Behind
AI is already reshaping how customers find and choose businesses. If your brand lacks authority—if your ecosystem is fragmented with disjointed pages, copied designs, and conflicting messages—AI isn’t going to choose you.
People today use ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews to go from query to purchase. You’re no longer marketing just to humans. You’re marketing to machines that prioritize trust, consistency, and authority.
Microsites confuse. Templates dilute. Lack of clarity gets ignored.
So what’s the solution?
Build your landing pages within your main domain. Optimize them for real conversions. Use SCAGs to tighten ad targeting. Think about brand as a system, not a logo. Avoid shortcuts that sabotage your long-term viability.
What Happens When You Straddle the Fence
Our client last week did exactly what so many others are doing. They staggered.
They liked what we were doing—our SEO, content, and creative. But they couldn’t let go of the dopamine hit their previous ad guy gave them. Even when that strategy meant pointing their Google Business listing to a low-authority URL, violating Google’s best practices, and risking suspension.
They wavered. They stepped halfway into a modern strategy, then retreated to the old one when it got uncomfortable. That’s how businesses die on the tracks.
The Real Hammer Problem
If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Whether it’s an AI-first marketer automating content with no human oversight, a designer relying on Canva templates for client work, or an ad manager pushing microsites as “landing pages,” each is just using their one tool again and again—even when it’s the wrong tool.
This is why so many marketing strategies sound convincing but fall flat in execution. The intent may be good, but if the tools don’t match the task, the result will suffer. A duct tape solution can hold for a minute. But it won’t build a business.
Stay Focused, Stay Ethical, Stay Real
Never respond to cold emails offering marketing help. If a marketer can’t ethically promote their own business, why trust them with yours? Avoid shiny object syndrome. Avoid one-size-fits-all tactics. Stay true to your brand and your long-term goals.
The web is shifting. Fast. Like the jump from 8-tracks to Spotify, the leap into AI-first search is going to leave entire industries behind. Don’t let normalcy bias write your obituary.
And for those standing in the middle of the road, frozen, hoping the train slows down—make a move. Either way. But move. Because hesitation is where the real danger lies.
Meet the Owner of Integris Design
Ken Carroll is the Founder and Creative Director of Integris Design, a boutique design and marketing agency based in Western North Carolina. With over 30 years of experience in creative strategy, brand development, and digital problem-solving, Ken has helped businesses—from startups to multi-location enterprises—build smarter brands and stronger systems.
Ken is also the host of the Over The Bull podcast, where he tackles the real reasons businesses struggle online—without the buzzwords or BS. His no-nonsense approach cuts through digital noise, helping companies avoid costly mistakes and uncover practical strategies that actually move the needle.
At Integris, Ken leads a hands-on team specializing in web development, digital advertising, local SEO, and strategic consulting. Whether he’s designing a website, breaking down KPIs, or building a custom client platform, his focus is always the same: clarity, simplicity, and results.
LISTEN TO OUR FULL EPISODE:
Resources:
1. ChatGPT traffic vs. Bing – September 2024
• https://the-decoder.com/chatgpt-breaks-traffic-record-with-over-3-billion-monthly-views
• https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2024/10/chatgpt-surpasses-bing-achieves-31.html
• https://www.aibase.com/news/12493
2. Lack of digital strategy
• https://www.webociti.com/why-businesses-fail-digital-marketing
3. Stale website and content neglect
• https://siliencedigital.com/2025/03/common-mistakes-businesses-make-with-digital-marketing
• https://www.ernstmedia.com/common-digital-marketing-mistakes
• https://www.buzzboard.ai/avoid-the-pitfalls-5-common-digital-marketing-mistakes-small-businesses-make-and-how-to-fix-them
4. Overcomplicated funnels and UX
• https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.00923
5. Over-reliance on single traffic sources
• https://www.darrellevans.net/blog/the-7-critical-digital-marketing-mistakes-preventing-your-business-growth-in-2025
6. Not using analytics or tracking effectively
• https://depndigital.com/common-digital-marketing-mistakes
7. SEO as a one-time task
• https://www.webociti.com/why-businesses-fail-digital-marketing
8. Mobile optimization neglect
• https://depndigital.com/common-digital-marketing-mistakes
9. Poor automation and personalization practices
• https://siliencedigital.com/2025/03/common-mistakes-businesses-make-with-digital-marketing
• https://www.thedigitalmarketing.buzz/blog/how-to-avoid-self-destructive-business-practices-in-digital-marketing
10. Outsourcing to low-quality providers
• https://colibridigitalmarketing.com/5-self-sabotaging-digital-marketing-mistakes-missteps-and-pitfalls
11. Not updating tools and platforms
• https://www.inc.com/andrea-olson/7-things-that-self-sabotage-your-business.html
3.1 Billion Visits to ChatGPT: Why Bots Win and Businesses Stall | Over the Bull® Podcast by Integris Design in Asheville, North Carolina
ChatGPT racked up over 3.1 billion visits last September—more than Bing. If that stat doesn’t make you pause, it should. In this episode, we unpack how businesses sabotage their own digital growth with outdated thinking, broken funnels, and reactive marketing. If you’re tired of guessing why your site underperforms, this one’s for you. Normalcy Bias:…
ChatGPT racked up over 3.1 billion visits last September—more than Bing. If that stat doesn’t make you pause, it should. In this episode, we unpack how businesses sabotage their own digital growth with outdated thinking, broken funnels, and reactive marketing. If you’re tired of guessing why your site underperforms, this one’s for you.
Normalcy Bias: The Blindfold in Broad Daylight
Normalcy bias is the belief that because something has worked in the past, it will continue to work in the future. It’s the business equivalent of staying in your lane while the bridge ahead has collapsed.
We’ve seen it time and again—from Yellow Pages advertising to legacy SEO tactics. There’s comfort in the familiar, but comfort is not a business strategy. The internet today is not a fixed landscape. It’s a river. Try building on yesterday’s riverbank and you’ll find yourself underwater before the week is out.
Normalcy bias keeps businesses from adapting to AI. It keeps them clinging to superficial wins—cheap clicks, pretty designs, “we’ve always done it this way” logic—while credibility, authority, and intelligence-driven marketing drive real growth elsewhere.
Ethics in the Age of Easy Wins
Last week, we let a client go.
It was amicable. They were good people. But they were married to a flawed strategy, unwilling to part ways with a short-term high that was killing long-term opportunity. The setup was textbook: they’d hired a Google Ads manager who ran traffic to low-authority microsites—offshoots of their brand—posing as “optimized landing pages.”
The problem? These microsites didn’t build brand equity. They diluted it. They were standalone sites that looked and sounded like the real thing, but lacked any SEO value or long-term sustainability. The campaign was engineered for fast numbers—not lasting credibility.
We had a choice: make a buck off their momentum, or do the ethical thing and step back. We chose the latter. Because in a world where AI is going to decide which businesses show up and which don’t, propping up fake authority for short-term wins isn’t just foolish—it’s unethical.
Microsites vs. Real Landing Pages: Don’t Confuse the Tools
Let’s be clear: landing pages are not the enemy. Poorly deployed, standalone microsites are.
A true landing page is a custom-built page, usually within your primary domain, optimized for a single purpose—conversion. It lives inside your ecosystem. It borrows your authority. It reflects your brand. And when done correctly, it converts like crazy.
A microsite, on the other hand, is often a quickly spun-up domain with no track record, credibility, or real connection to your business. It’s designed to game ad metrics, not serve customers. Some marketers even link these phantom sites to your Google Business Profile, injecting confusion into your public brand.
Here’s the result: you spend thousands to drive traffic to a page that won’t help your SEO, won’t improve your reputation, and won’t position you for AI-based search.
It’s strategy by sleight-of-hand. And it’s going extinct.
Data Doesn’t Lie: Why Real Landing Pages Still Work
Let’s talk numbers. According to Analytify, businesses with properly optimized landing pages see conversion rates of up to 55%, while the industry average hovers around 2%–5%.
Why the gap? Because real optimization takes time. It means testing headlines, improving page speed, refining images, and crafting laser-targeted copy. It means aligning every ad with the promise of the landing page and the action you want the visitor to take.
And conversion doesn’t mean just clicking a button. It means completing a meaningful action—calling you, booking an appointment, making a purchase. When businesses pad their conversion metrics with meaningless events (like scrolling 20% of the page), they train Google’s machine learning to optimize for noise instead of signal.
Build Your Landing Pages With Strategy, Not Scaffolding
You can’t throw up a single “Contact Us” page and expect miracles. The best performing companies build multiple landing pages—targeting services, geographies, and user intent.
A 2025 Sales Genie study shows that businesses with 40+ landing pages generate over 500% more leads than those with under 10. That doesn’t mean you need 40 pages. But you do need segmentation. A plumber should have one page for sink repair, another for water heater installation, and another for emergency services.
And you can’t drive traffic to those pages without carefully constructed ad campaigns. Enter SCAGs—Single Keyword Ad Groups. SCAGs pair specific keyword searches with relevant landing pages. “Sink repair Asheville” gets its own ad and its own page. That precision matters.
What’s the missing ingredient? Time. Success isn’t plug-and-play. It’s iterative. It’s messy. It requires analysis, adjustment, and patience.
Design Without Identity Is Just Pretty Noise
Now let’s talk about Canva. Canva is to design what those microsites are to SEO. It looks good on the surface. But scratch the paint, and you’ll find structural flaws.
The real issue is sameness. If everyone is using the same Canva templates, your brand disappears into the crowd. One article called it “a sea of sameness.” And they’re right. Brand identity isn’t about dropping your logo on a cool-looking template. It’s about consistency, tone, color use, layout, and story.
Canva is a fantastic filler tool—for internal decks, light promo, maybe a quick announcement. But it’s not the foundation of a serious brand. Using it to build your logo is like using Legos to construct a skyscraper. You can do it. But should you?
The problem is this: if your brand doesn’t stand out to humans, it certainly won’t stand out to AI.
Don’t Let AI Leave You Behind
AI is already reshaping how customers find and choose businesses. If your brand lacks authority—if your ecosystem is fragmented with disjointed pages, copied designs, and conflicting messages—AI isn’t going to choose you.
People today use ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews to go from query to purchase. You’re no longer marketing just to humans. You’re marketing to machines that prioritize trust, consistency, and authority.
Microsites confuse. Templates dilute. Lack of clarity gets ignored.
So what’s the solution?
Build your landing pages within your main domain. Optimize them for real conversions. Use SCAGs to tighten ad targeting. Think about brand as a system, not a logo. Avoid shortcuts that sabotage your long-term viability.
What Happens When You Straddle the Fence
Our client last week did exactly what so many others are doing. They staggered.
They liked what we were doing—our SEO, content, and creative. But they couldn’t let go of the dopamine hit their previous ad guy gave them. Even when that strategy meant pointing their Google Business listing to a low-authority URL, violating Google’s best practices, and risking suspension.
They wavered. They stepped halfway into a modern strategy, then retreated to the old one when it got uncomfortable. That’s how businesses die on the tracks.
The Real Hammer Problem
If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Whether it’s an AI-first marketer automating content with no human oversight, a designer relying on Canva templates for client work, or an ad manager pushing microsites as “landing pages,” each is just using their one tool again and again—even when it’s the wrong tool.
This is why so many marketing strategies sound convincing but fall flat in execution. The intent may be good, but if the tools don’t match the task, the result will suffer. A duct tape solution can hold for a minute. But it won’t build a business.
Stay Focused, Stay Ethical, Stay Real
Never respond to cold emails offering marketing help. If a marketer can’t ethically promote their own business, why trust them with yours? Avoid shiny object syndrome. Avoid one-size-fits-all tactics. Stay true to your brand and your long-term goals.
The web is shifting. Fast. Like the jump from 8-tracks to Spotify, the leap into AI-first search is going to leave entire industries behind. Don’t let normalcy bias write your obituary.
And for those standing in the middle of the road, frozen, hoping the train slows down—make a move. Either way. But move. Because hesitation is where the real danger lies.
Meet the Owner of Integris Design
Ken Carroll is the Founder and Creative Director of Integris Design, a boutique design and marketing agency based in Western North Carolina. With over 30 years of experience in creative strategy, brand development, and digital problem-solving, Ken has helped businesses—from startups to multi-location enterprises—build smarter brands and stronger systems.
Ken is also the host of the Over The Bull podcast, where he tackles the real reasons businesses struggle online—without the buzzwords or BS. His no-nonsense approach cuts through digital noise, helping companies avoid costly mistakes and uncover practical strategies that actually move the needle.
At Integris, Ken leads a hands-on team specializing in web development, digital advertising, local SEO, and strategic consulting. Whether he’s designing a website, breaking down KPIs, or building a custom client platform, his focus is always the same: clarity, simplicity, and results.
LISTEN TO OUR FULL EPISODE:
Resources:
1. ChatGPT traffic vs. Bing – September 2024
• https://the-decoder.com/chatgpt-breaks-traffic-record-with-over-3-billion-monthly-views
• https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2024/10/chatgpt-surpasses-bing-achieves-31.html
• https://www.aibase.com/news/12493
2. Lack of digital strategy
• https://www.webociti.com/why-businesses-fail-digital-marketing
3. Stale website and content neglect
• https://siliencedigital.com/2025/03/common-mistakes-businesses-make-with-digital-marketing
• https://www.ernstmedia.com/common-digital-marketing-mistakes
• https://www.buzzboard.ai/avoid-the-pitfalls-5-common-digital-marketing-mistakes-small-businesses-make-and-how-to-fix-them
4. Overcomplicated funnels and UX
• https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.00923
5. Over-reliance on single traffic sources
• https://www.darrellevans.net/blog/the-7-critical-digital-marketing-mistakes-preventing-your-business-growth-in-2025
6. Not using analytics or tracking effectively
• https://depndigital.com/common-digital-marketing-mistakes
7. SEO as a one-time task
• https://www.webociti.com/why-businesses-fail-digital-marketing
8. Mobile optimization neglect
• https://depndigital.com/common-digital-marketing-mistakes
9. Poor automation and personalization practices
• https://siliencedigital.com/2025/03/common-mistakes-businesses-make-with-digital-marketing
• https://www.thedigitalmarketing.buzz/blog/how-to-avoid-self-destructive-business-practices-in-digital-marketing
10. Outsourcing to low-quality providers
• https://colibridigitalmarketing.com/5-self-sabotaging-digital-marketing-mistakes-missteps-and-pitfalls
11. Not updating tools and platforms
• https://www.inc.com/andrea-olson/7-things-that-self-sabotage-your-business.html