1. Introduction: We’re Not Googling — We’re Conversing
Back in the day, search meant typing a few words into Google, skimming links, and opening five tabs “just in case.” That behavior is fading fast.
By mid-2025, I’ve noticed a real change — not just in the tools we use, but in the way we think about finding answers. More and more people (myself included) now default to ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s new Gemini interface to ask, not search. We’re not just looking for links — we want ready-to-use answers, tailored explanations, and quick summaries.
“Users are asking questions with context now. They want synthesis, not ten disconnected links,”
says Marie Haynes, a long-time Google algorithm expert and SEO consultant.
It’s not some trend brewing on the horizon. It’s already reshaping what it means to be visible online. And for anyone working in SEO, content marketing, or digital strategy, the playbook is changing — rapidly.
At this year’s Google I/O, the company launched AI Mode — a new version of search where AI-generated answers take the top of the page. The idea is to keep users within Google’s environment longer by giving them enough without needing to click away.
Naturally, this worries a lot of us who work with content. If AI gives the answer, what happens to the site that wrote it? Even when links are included, they’re easy to miss. And in some cases, they’re not shown at all.
So, what now? In the rest of this article, I’ll break down:
- how people are changing the way they look for information,
- which types of businesses are doing better (or worse) because of this shift,
- and what you can do — whether you run an agency, a brand, or a blog — to stay relevant in the age of AI-first discovery.
2. Why Generative AI Changed the Way People Search
A couple of years ago, SEO was about matching keywords and climbing the rankings. Now? People don’t want to search — they want answers. Fast, clear, and in context.
I started seeing this shift with our B2B clients. Instead of asking “How do we rank for this keyword?”, they’re asking, “How do we show up when someone asks ChatGPT about a solution like ours?”
That’s a different game. It’s no longer just about traffic — it’s about being the answer.
One client — a Canadian software firm — saw a 32% drop in organic traffic after Google launched AI Overviews. But when we restructured their content for AI-first consumption — clear headings, concise takeaways, and summarized insights — something changed. Their brand started showing up in Perplexity’s answers. The traffic wasn’t as big, but leads were warmer. Conversion rates nearly doubled.
“AI doesn’t link to fluff. It pulls from clarity, structure, and real value,” says Kristina Azarenko, SEO consultant and founder of MarketingSyrup.
We’re no longer just optimizing for rankings. We’re optimizing for trust — in machines that now speak for our audience.
3. Industries Winning (and Losing) in the Age of AI Search
AI search doesn’t affect every niche the same way. Some industries are seeing dramatic shifts — both positive and negative — depending on how their audiences use search and how replaceable their content is.
Industries Losing Visibility
- Affiliate Marketing & Review Blogs
AI is excellent at summarizing pros and cons across product reviews — so users don’t need to visit five affiliate sites anymore.
“My top-performing page on VPN reviews dropped 70% in traffic in 3 months — it’s now paraphrased word-for-word in Perplexity,” says Nate Matherson, co-founder of Positional, an SEO tool tailored for AI-era content strategies.
- DIY and Generic “How-to” Content
Instructions like “how to restart your router” or “how to format a CV” are now so well-handled by AI that searchers rarely need to click through. These answers are short, reliable, and easy to extract. - Medical & Legal Informational Sites
While accuracy is still a concern, AI tools have been trained heavily on authoritative public databases. For broad questions like “What’s the difference between an HMO and PPO?”, AI can deliver instant comparisons, reducing the need to browse multiple medical sites.
Industries Thriving (So Far)
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
AI can’t easily invent screenshots, UI walkthroughs, or user-specific setups. Product-led content, API documentation, integration tutorials — these still perform well, especially if they’re up-to-date and authoritative. - Deep B2B Niches
Industries like manufacturing automation, enterprise security, or biotech still benefit from human nuance. These topics require depth, case-specific language, and often cite unpublished or niche data. - Local Services
AI can suggest what to look for in a roofer, but it won’t replace a Google Business Profile with real reviews and photos. Plus, local intent (“roof repair near me”) still strongly favors traditional local search formats and map results.
“Local SEO has proven resilient. For queries with clear geographic intent, Google still dominates — and AI often defers to local packs or GMB listings,” says Claire Carlile, a widely respected local SEO expert.
Key Takeaway
If your content is generic, replicable, or undifferentiated, AI search will likely cannibalize it. But if you offer original insights, local context, visual elements, or interactive tools, you’re in a safer zone — at least for now.
4. What Matters Now: Authority, Structure, and Sourceability
If you’re still optimizing pages with the same playbook from 2018 — headlines stuffed with keywords, blog posts cranked out for “volume,” and backlinks from expired domains — you’re falling behind.
AI search doesn’t care about keyword density. It cares about structure, credibility, and traceability.
Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 and Google’s SGE (Search Generative Experience) don’t just “index” content — they learn from it. That means if your brand isn’t part of high-quality datasets, trusted sites, or recognizable author networks, it’s invisible to the algorithm.
“If your brand isn’t present in the AI training data, it may as well not exist,” says Mike King, founder of iPullRank and one of the leading voices in technical SEO.
So what makes your content “trainable”?
- Structured author identity. Use schema.org/author, link to real LinkedIn profiles, and keep them active.
- Platform presence. LLMs frequently train on YouTube transcripts, LinkedIn articles, and public PDF documents. Being active on those platforms isn’t optional anymore.
- Cited by others. If your work is cited by journalists, analysts, or other creators, AI models are more likely to trust and reuse it.
- Clear structure. Bullet points, FAQ blocks, headings that mirror user queries — this isn’t just good UX, it’s LLM-friendly formatting.
Let me give a practical example.
One of our case studies — a software rearchitecture project for a logistics firm — was reposted on Medium, linked in a CTO’s LinkedIn post, and featured in a niche dev podcast summary. A few weeks later, we saw it show up in a Gemini snapshot answer about “migrating monoliths to microservices.” No technical SEO trick pulled that off — context, credibility, and citations did.
5. Action Plan: How to Optimize for AI Search in 2025
AI search doesn’t reward SEO tricks. It rewards real expertise — and that’s a shift you can’t fake. What I’ve learned working with home improvement businesses and software agencies is this: if your content isn’t reference-worthy, it doesn’t matter how well it’s optimized.
Here’s what we do differently now — and what actually moves the needle in AI-driven results.
1. Real Authors, Real Links
Pages that don’t list an author, or hide behind “admin,” rarely make it into AI summaries. For one of our roofing clients in Florida, we added a licensed contractor as the author of a pricing guide. Full name, photo, LinkedIn and Houzz profile. Within weeks, that page started getting cited by Perplexity in answers like “typical roof replacement cost by state.”
The shift here is simple: If AI doesn’t recognize the person, it won’t quote them.
2. Human-Centric Page Structure
We build pages as if answering someone in a Facebook group. Question. Short answer. Clarification. Example. No fluff.
How long does it take to install a metal roof?
Most homes take 2–4 days.
For instance, in Orlando, a 2,000 sq. ft roof took 3.5 days including underlayment.
This kind of formatting works. ChatGPT, Gemini, and Bing pick up well-structured answers more than dense paragraphs.
3. Refresh Evergreen Content Every 90 Days
We used to publish and forget. Not anymore. Today, we schedule quarterly updates for all cornerstone content. Even a small update — like a new stat or fresh case photo — helps AI treat it as current.
One of our guides jumped back into SGE answers after we swapped outdated 2022 prices for real client estimates from Q1 2025.
4. Publish Beyond the Blog
AI scrapes from everywhere — not just your website. We now repurpose key insights into PDFs (uploaded to LinkedIn or Issuu), video explainers, and even SlideShares. These sources show up in AI tools more often than you’d expect.
A gutter pricing guide we turned into a downloadable PDF was quoted by Gemini as “a regional benchmark,” even though it never ranked in top 10 Google results.
5. Schema Done Right
I’ve seen pages show up in SGE just because they used author, FAQPage, and WebPage schema correctly. Especially the author block — including job title, sameAs links to social media, and a clear bio.
No AI will respect a nameless opinion. Schema helps connect content to reputation.
6. Track Visibility in AI, Not Just Google
We now test every important query inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. If our client’s pages aren’t mentioned or summarized — we treat it like a problem.
Instead of asking “are we ranking?” I now ask, “are we being quoted?”
7. What It Means for Brands: From Visibility to Verifiability
In a world where AI tools rewrite the discovery process, brands can no longer rely solely on keyword rankings or domain authority. What matters now is verifiability — being seen as a trustworthy source that AI engines can confidently quote, summarize, or recommend.
“If your brand isn’t present in the data AI is trained on, you might as well be invisible,” says Mike King, Founder of iPullRank and a leading voice in AI-integrated SEO.
To be “reference-worthy” in the age of AI, companies must maintain a visible, traceable footprint across multiple credible platforms. That includes:
- Real authorship: AI tools now evaluate who writes the content. Do they have a presence on LinkedIn, GitHub, or Google Scholar? Are they cited elsewhere? Brands must showcase real people — not faceless corporate blogs.
- Multi-signal authority: Search engines and LLMs are training on web, social, PDF documents, and even transcripts. A blog post alone isn’t enough. Your webinar quotes, YouTube interviews, or even a downloadable white paper can feed the algorithm’s trust.
- Structured data and citations: Brands with schema-rich websites, cited sources, and clear author attribution are more likely to be referenced in AI-generated results.
This shift changes the job description of SEO specialists. Instead of just optimizing for traffic, they must now work as content architects, reputation builders, and digital PR strategists. Success means being verifiable, linkable, and human in a machine-mediated world.
“SEO isn’t dying — but it’s becoming something we barely recognize,” says Lily Ray, Senior Director of SEO at Amsive Digital. “In the AI era, your brand’s story and presence matter more than technical tricks.”
In short, the new measure of SEO success is whether AI trusts your brand enough to quote it — without even sending traffic to your site.
7. Final Thoughts: Don’t Wait for Traffic to Drop
The rise of AI-driven search isn’t just a trend — it’s a transformation. Those waiting for a drop in Google traffic before acting are already behind. As AI becomes the first touchpoint for questions, research, and decision-making, your content needs to exist in that space.
The good news? You don’t need to game algorithms — you need to be real. That means:
- Publish expert-led content under real names.
- Maintain an active, visible presence on platforms that feed LLMs: LinkedIn, YouTube, industry forums, and PDF-hosted reports.
- Focus on being referenced, not just ranking.
AI favors the credible, the consistent, and the human. That’s a shift many brands — especially those slow to publish or stuck in keyword spreadsheets — find uncomfortable.
But for those who act now, it’s an opportunity.
“In the next wave of search, authority won’t come from backlinks alone. It’ll come from recognizability across ecosystems,” says Cyrus Shepard, Founder of Zyppy SEO.
My advice? Don’t wait. Publish that case study. Put your name on it. Cite your sources. Be present. Because AI won’t just ask what’s relevant — it’ll ask who said it, and why it matters.
