AI’s Search Revolution: A Leader’s Action Plan

The landscape of digital search is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the rapid integration of artificial intelligence. For marketing leaders and executives, the central challenge is no longer debating the relevance of traditional SEO but adapting to a new reality where brand visibility now spans AI-driven assistants, multimodal tools, and fragmented user journeys. This shift is propelled by two powerful forces: relentless technological advancement and the swift adoption of new search behaviors, particularly among younger users.

As these dynamics converge, conventional performance indicators like keyword rankings and click-through rates are losing their significance. What truly matters today is a brand’s capacity to identify where visibility is migrating, understand how purchasing decisions are being shaped earlier in the customer journey, and develop flexible strategies that ensure a presence across an expanding digital ecosystem.

The arrival of ChatGPT marked a pivotal moment for digital marketing. Generative AI quickly became a mainstream resource, offering novel ways for people to find answers, assess products, and make plans. While industry discussions often revolve around new acronyms like GEO or AIEO, the labels are secondary to the fundamental structural change underway. Analysts project that traditional search engine volumes could drop by as much as 25% as consumers increasingly turn to AI-powered platforms and assistants. Although a decline of this magnitude from a base as large as Google’s still represents trillions of searches, it is substantial enough to disrupt established traffic patterns. This doesn’t mean the end for SEO; rather, it signals a transformation of the internet itself, with user information-seeking habits evolving in lockstep with the technologies that enable them.

Search is no longer confined to a simple search box. Innovations like Google’s Circle to Search, Lens, AI Overviews, and AI Mode, alongside platforms such as Perplexity and ChatGPT, are creating new entry points for user journeys. Many of these pathways completely bypass the traditional search engine results page. Younger demographics are accelerating this transition. Contrary to popular belief, Gen Z isn’t abandoning Google for TikTok or other alternatives entirely. Instead, they are adopting AI-enabled features within Google at a higher rate than any other age group. Data indicates that one in ten Gen Z searches already begins with Circle or Lens, and one in five of those searches are commercial in nature. This clearly shows that the next generation of consumers interacts with the internet through a blend of image recognition, voice, video, and AI assistance, replacing traditional keyword-driven searches with multimodal, non-linear exploration.

For years, marketers have visualized the customer journey as a linear funnel moving from awareness to consideration to decision. That model is now breaking apart. AI intermediaries like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews are summarizing, curating, and interpreting information before users ever visit a brand’s website. In many instances, the entire research and decision-making process occurs within these platforms. Simultaneously, peer-generated content from Reddit threads, product comparison lists, and third-party case studies is being pulled into AI-generated responses. This ecosystem increases the number of sources that shape consumer perception while reducing the likelihood of a direct website visit. The outcome is a “dark funnel,” where purchase decisions are made through fragmented, often opaque pathways that evade traditional tracking. For leaders, this means brand influence must extend beyond owned assets to encompass the broader ecosystem from which AI models source their information.

For nearly two decades, SEO success was measured by a narrow set of metrics. In the AI-driven search environment, those measures are no longer adequate. Three significant shifts stand out. Cross-channel lift recognizes that SEO is often the first point of exposure, even if it doesn’t capture the final click. Tools like Google Analytics 4 can now analyze how many users first encounter a brand through organic search before returning via direct, social, or paid channels, reframing SEO as a driver of brand lift across the entire marketing mix. Visibility in AI-generated citations is crucial; being referenced in an AI summary may not generate an immediate click, but it influences perception and consideration. Success must account for brand presence within these outputs, even when user journeys bypass the website. Topic-level visibility is becoming more valuable than individual keyword tracking because AI search retrieves information thematically rather than through exact keyword matching. Consequently, tracking topic visibility, breadth of coverage, and source quality is more insightful than monitoring a single keyword’s position. Traditional metrics like “average position” in Google Search Console are growing increasingly unreliable, as AI citations are often recorded as position one regardless of context, creating a distorted performance picture.

The changes unfolding in AI-driven search are structural, not temporary. Leaders must build resilience and adaptability into their marketing organizations by pursuing five key imperatives.

First, audit AI-driven traffic and visibility. Leaders need to establish a baseline for how AI is already impacting their business. While AI referrals currently represent a small share of overall traffic, they constitute an emerging channel with unique characteristics. A practical step involves using GA4 or Looker Studio to segment traffic from platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, which typically appear under “referral” in analytics. Using regex filters can help separate them cleanly. Treating AI traffic as a distinct channel enables organizations to analyze landing pages, conversions, and revenue, moving beyond dismissing it as miscellaneous. Framing it this way elevates its importance in strategic discussions and helps justify future investments.

Second, track the market, not just internal performance. A common mistake is interpreting every traffic decline as an execution failure when shrinking demand in traditional search is often the real cause. A practical approach is to compare organic and paid impressions for the same set of keywords. If both are declining, the issue is demand-side, not execution-side. Layering this with Google Trends data can visualize whether search volumes are falling across the entire market. This reframes the narrative from “our SEO team is underperforming” to “our market is shifting,” which is vital for maintaining stakeholder confidence. CMOs who can distinguish market-driven shifts from operational gaps will have more precise conversations with the C-suite about resource allocation.

Third, invest in top-of-funnel presence across the ecosystem. AI models increasingly pull information from third-party sites, reviews, and community forums when generating responses. This widens the playing field for visibility far beyond a brand’s own domain. Building a program to secure mentions in authoritative third-party contexts, such as industry directories, product comparison lists, peer forums, and niche communities, is a critical step. Being present in these external ecosystems ensures that when AI models summarize options, your brand is more likely to be included in the conversation, even if the user never visits your website. For instance, a travel brand should aim to appear not only in “best hotel” lists on major sites but also in Reddit threads, YouTube reviews, and AI-cited blogs. Leaders must expand their definition of SEO from domain optimization to ecosystem visibility, representing a fundamental shift in scope.

Fourth, rethink the funnel and customer journey. The traditional linear funnel is disintegrating. Users now navigate fragmented journeys that blend passive discovery through social media, video, and peer reviews with AI-assisted evaluation. Mapping how AI intermediaries are reshaping specific stages of your funnel is essential. Identify which queries are being absorbed into AI summaries and where direct interaction with your brand is diminishing. In some cases, entire query categories may be “lost” to AI intermediaries. Recognizing these blind spots early allows marketers to develop alternative pathways, such as social amplification, partnerships, or paid distribution. A B2B software vendor, for example, might discover that queries like “best CRM for mid-size companies” are increasingly answered by AI summaries citing analyst reports and third-party reviews. To remain visible, the vendor must prioritize securing those external references rather than relying solely on owned content. CMOs must guide their organizations to think less about protecting a single funnel and more about orchestrating presence across a patchwork of fragmented pathways.

Fifth, measure indirect value and cross-channel lift. SEO has always influenced channels beyond the last click, but AI disruption makes quantifying that influence more critical than ever. Using GA4’s Explore feature to track first-touch organic sessions that later convert through direct, social, or paid channels is a practical step. Creating custom segments that isolate cross-channel lift provides concrete evidence of how SEO fuels the broader marketing mix, even when conversions are attributed elsewhere. For example, a retailer might find that 40% of “direct” purchases were first initiated by an organic search session weeks earlier. Without quantifying this, the true value of SEO would be significantly understated. Demonstrating this indirect value reframes SEO from a cost center to a growth driver, empowering CMOs to argue for resources with greater authority.

These imperatives are not one-time actions but ongoing disciplines that must evolve alongside user behavior and technological change. Leaders who embed them into their operating rhythm will be better equipped to adapt strategies, justify investments, and maintain visibility in an AI-led digital economy.

Your audience largely determines your risk exposure. Organizations serving younger, consumer-facing segments are already witnessing accelerated adoption of AI search tools. For B2B businesses with more controlled environments, the shift may be slower, but it is inevitable. In times of disruption, acronyms proliferate. What matters is not whether a vendor calls their practice SEO, GEO, or another label, but whether they can demonstrate measurable strategies for sustaining visibility in AI-led ecosystems. A static 12-month plan is no longer viable. AI search strategies must be adaptive, continuously informed by data, and responsive to new entrants and technologies.

SEO is not dead. It is evolving into a broader discipline of experience visibility, where brand presence must extend across AI models, multimodal search tools, and fragmented user journeys. The challenge for leaders is not to cling to old metrics or frameworks but to recognize how the internet is reshaping itself. We are treading new ground, which brings both uncertainty and risk. Those who measure differently, broaden their presence, and align with user-driven change will not only withstand the disruption but also secure a competitive advantage in the AI-led future.

(Source: Search Engine Journal)