The marketing ground is shifting, and the vibrations are coming from AI search and the new ways people are finding information online. Search is no longer dependent on optimization, now it’s about credibility in the eyes of AI. With 41% of all Google searches in the US including an AI overview, and research from Adobe indicating that 47% of people use AI search for product recommendations and 55% for research, ignoring this change could leave brands in the dark pages (see what I did there?).
The era of users clicking through a list of ten blue links to find their answers is over. AI now delivers direct, helpful responses in chat or at the top of search results with AI Overviews. As clicks decline, marketers need to embrace the new role of search as it shifts away from its former position as a performance channel.
The Declining Role of Clicks in the AI Search Era
The foundation of website traffic driven by search is rapidly eroding as AI responses and overviews continue to provide quick, comprehensive solutions to users’ immediate needs. This isn’t just a shift in how information is shared, it’s a shift in how people interact with information—and fundamental disruption to the customer acquisition funnel. Failure to recognize and adapt to this now will lead to significant long-term business impacts for brands: diminishing organic reach, increased reliance on paid channels, and ultimately, a weakening of brand visibility in an AI-first landscape.
For years, search engine optimization (SEO) has been a performance marketing cornerstone, obsessively focused on clicks, website traffic, and conversions. But the speed of AI innovation and adoption is forcing us to confront a new reality: search is no longer primarily a performance channel; it’s becoming a critical brand awareness engine.
Search is the New Brand Awareness Channel
When it comes to embracing AI and using it as a tool to reach and convert audiences, marketers need to change how they think about and approach search. Success can no longer be measured by clicks and traffic. AI search is now a top-of-funnel channel, and success now lies in impressions, authority, and awareness.
This isn’t a minor shift for brands to make, and selling a pivot away from performance isn’t an easy concept to sell to stakeholders. But it’s a huge opportunity for brands, both big and small, as updates to search like AI Overviews mean even top-ranking websites are being pushed way down. Ensuring your brand and links are being included in AI search results isn’t just a way to rank ahead of competitors, it’s a way to establish your brand as a trusted authority and be recognized as a relevant and reliable source. In order to win, marketers need to embrace search as a crucial early touchpoint in the customer journey, focused on brand influence and perception rather than performance and conversion.
The AI Visibility Triangle
In order to navigate and benefit from the “Great Search Shift”, marketers need to take a more holistic approach to their brand strategies. SEO is still important, but it’s not enough to appear regularly and high up in AI search. The biggest drivers to AI visibility lies in off-page SEO, including digital PR and community conversations.
To appear in AI search results, brands need to focus on optimizing three core aspects: Content, Comms, and Community, which we’re calling the AI Visibility Triangle.
- Content: Creating high-quality, informative content that ranks well in search, answers key questions directly, and reinforces your brand’s value.
- Comms (PR/Digital PR): Securing consistent, relevant mentions in trusted and authoritative sources with a focused brand message and strategic target media list.
- Community: Nurturing and engaging your biggest fans to generate positive discussions and recommendations across community forums, blogs, and videos.
Embracing the three spokes of the AI Visibility Triangle (Content, Comms, and Community) is how marketers and brands can adapt to the new landscape and get ahead of competitors in AI search.
1. Content: Providing the Ultimate Answer Before the Click
Because even AI searches the internet to provide the most relevant, timely answers, SEO and content that ranks well on search remains important. But in the age of AI search, your content aim is to be the definitive answer to the questions your audiences are asking. It’s less about optimizing for keywords and the top spot in traditional SERPs, and more about crafting informative, authoritative content that’s easy for AI models to find and share.
While AI tends to prioritize providing clear, direct answers, audiences are going the other direction, asking more detailed, complex, and personal questions. The way people search for information with AI is becoming more conversational and context-rich. That means content strategies and keyword research needs to evolve to include longer-tail queries and niche areas of interest. By deeply understanding natural language queries and structuring content to provide helpful, clear answers, marketers can position brands as the go-to expert AI search engines can confidently draw from.
2. Comms: Earning AI’s Endorsement with Authority
For non-SEOs, it’s easy to think about authority abstractly. As reputation, validation, or credibility. But when it comes to search, authority is a tangible, measurable signal that impacts search visibility. Backlink strategies have been a pillar of SEO for this reason, but as AI models improve and business partnerships develop, they aren’t enough to ensure appearance in AI search. Brands need to embrace proactive, brand-first PR if they want to earn AI’s endorsement on search.
To rank in AI search, your brand needs to show up consistently across multiple, authoritative places online. This requires developing a clear brand narrative and focusing pitches to relevant media outlets and channels. The goal isn’t just to generate backlinks for SEO (though that remains important), but to build a strong web of credible mentions that reinforce your brand’s authority in the eyes of AI.
A final thing to consider for PR is existing partnerships. A lot of publications have signed deals with different AI companies. So while the New York Times might be an authoritative, audience-appropriate publication for your brand to appear in, for example, the New York Post, which has a partnership with OpenAI, might be just as strong of a target if you’re focused on improving your ranking in ChatGPT over other AI search engines.
3. Community: Let Your Advocates Speak Volumes
AI search engines regularly source fan blogs, YouTube videos, and other community forums for their answers, especially when it comes to super niche use cases or preferences. We know Reddit’s been used to train AI from the start, and with Reddit’s conversational AI tool now officially leveraging Google Gemini, the link between community spaces like Reddit and search is only getting stronger. Making sure your brand, product, or service is what people are talking about in these spaces is essential.
Now more than ever, marketers need to identify their biggest fans, understand where they gather online, and actively nurture and contribute to the communities. Investing in community building, nurturing existing fans, and even strategically engaging with influencers can significantly impact your brand’s visibility in AI search.
The Future of Search is Brand-First
The days of solely chasing clicks in search aren’t waning, they’re over. The future belongs to brands that understand the power of presence, authority, and authentic engagement. By embracing a holistic strategy that prioritizes brand visibility and consistency across content, comms, and community, marketers can not only navigate the evolving AI search landscape but also build a stronger, more resilient brand for the long term.
The goal for AI tools is to have consumers use them more and more, which means their answers will become more helpful, more personalized, and less likely to result in clicks to websites. As clicks continue to reduce, brands need to evaluate how, where, and why they’re showing up online. The future of search is brand-first, so make sure you have the right partners to help you navigate it.