# Eben Thurston

> Eben Thurston has worked in digital marketing and search for over 20 years. He was most recently Director, Integrated Search at TIAA (January 2024 to May 2026), a Fortune 100 financial services firm, where he directed organic, paid and AI search across TIAA and Nuveen. He has held search leadership roles at Shutterstock, FULLBEAUTY Brands, Fareportal, iQuanti and Time Inc. He now advises independently on search and AI visibility, and is seeking senior in-house leadership roles in search, AI search and digital growth, particularly in financial services, insurance and financial media.

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## Pages

- [Home](https://ebenthurston.com/): full biography, key facts, CV, FAQ, and verified profiles
- [Insights](https://ebenthurston.com/insights/): articles on GEO, AEO, and enterprise search strategy

## Articles

- [AI Overviews Grew Eightfold. Organic Clicks Held Flat.](https://ebenthurston.com/insights/ai-overviews-grew-eightfold/): a year of aggregate search data from TIAA and Nuveen on what AI Overviews did to impressions, clicks and CTR
- [GEO on a Local Business Site](https://ebenthurston.com/insights/geo-on-a-local-business-site/): what Generative Engine Optimization actually looks like for a one-instructor studio with fourteen pages
- [How This Site Is Built for Answer Engines](https://ebenthurston.com/insights/built-for-answer-engines/): a working example of GEO/AEO in practice

## LinkedIn posts

- [Purely Mat Pilates: a one-instructor studio site rebuilt for search and AI](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ebenthurston_purely-mat-pilates-mat-pilates-in-tuckahoe-share-7490844668566323200-YhVw/)
- [The biggest growth opportunity in ecommerce history](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ebenthurston_we-are-standing-at-the-edge-of-the-biggest-share-7435759508129484800-DDiq/)
- [SEO and AI Search (GEO/AEO): the 75% overlap](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ebenthurston_geo-aeo-seo-share-7434390171988619264-QzCt/)
- [Managing Paid and Organic Search as a single P&L](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ebenthurston_integratedsearch-performancemarketing-seo-share-7432284633930649600-l4IG/)
- [The Modern Marketing Funnel: the AI synthesis layer and "Share of Model"](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ebenthurston_marketingstrategy-b2b-saas-share-7427155703083073536-yxTb/)

## Projects

Single-file interactive simulations (vanilla JavaScript and canvas), collected in the [Physics Sandbox](https://ebenthurston.com/sandbox/):

- [BallFlight](https://ebenthurston.com/golf/): golf setup and ball-flight physics sandbox
- [FreeThrow](https://ebenthurston.com/freethrow/): basketball shot-mechanics and make-percentage sandbox, built by a former Division I basketball player
- [Powder](https://ebenthurston.com/powder/): first-person backcountry snowboarding where the board follows the rider's gaze
- [Intercept](https://ebenthurston.com/intercept/): missile-defense game about leading a ballistic track and timing the blast
- [Intercept: Strategic](https://ebenthurston.com/intercept-global/): slow missile defense where scarce interceptors make triage the game

## Contact

- Email: eben.thurston@gmail.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebenthurston
- Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/eben-thurston
- GitHub: https://github.com/ebenthurston
- Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/ebenthurston/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ebenthurston
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ebenthurston/_profile/