How AI Search is Changing Business Strategies
By Amanda Sellers for HubSpot
Content visibility is growing, but your website traffic is plunging. More than half of Google searches today don’t result in clicks, as reported by Search Engine Land. Consumers are now turning to Google’s AI Overviews and Reddit for quick solutions to meet their needs.
The New Way of Finding Information
Traditional SEO strategies were once a goldmine, but AI has now leveled the playing field by providing everyone with unlimited, personalized knowledge across various channels, and Google Search is losing users to AI search engines like ChatGPT.
The Change in Marketing Playbook
The once reliable marketing playbook has been disrupted. Brands can no longer rely solely on one distribution channel, like search. It’s now essential to diversify your content across channels to reach consumers effectively. The rise in AI adoption indicates that one such channel is AI search. Brands must optimize their content strategy for both humans and machines.
Understanding AI Engine Optimization (AEO)
AI usage has been on the rise since 2023. According to a recent McKinsey survey, 78% of organizations utilized AI in at least one business function in 2024, compared to 55% in 2023. This wide adoption has significantly changed how people consume information.
The Paradox of AI Features and Business Strategy
As Google and other search engines roll out more AI features, businesses are facing a unique paradox: They’re seeing fewer clicks even if their search rankings and impressions improve. That’s because AI engines are increasingly becoming the first stop for product discovery. However, the buyer’s journey remains the same. Users still identify a pain point, determine a solution, find the right product for that solution, and ultimately make a purchase. But the channels guiding those steps have changed, and AI search is shaping the first three phases more and more.
Choosing the Right Topics for AI Search
AI engines use vector embeddings to understand the relationships between words, concepts, and entities. Brands need to build strong semantic associations between their content and the product categories they want to own. This means claiming a semantic territory and fully owning it.
Designing Content with Intent
AI engines prioritize content that is accurate and structured for machine readability and retrieval. It’s a strategic balance between factual authority, semantic completeness, and structured storytelling. A marketing firm that publishes a “Top Emerging Marketing Trends” article could cite widely available data and also include proprietary findings from its own research team to increase its chances of showing up in AI search results.
From Distribution to Amplification
HubSpot’s Loop Marketing playbook outlines this tactical AI-driven shift in search and discovery, which helps businesses adapt as customer habits change.
The Seismic Shift in Discoverability
AI is reshaping how buyers make decisions. Your business website now plays a crucial role in influencing the AI engines that influence humans to take action and buy from you. The journey to product discovery is spread across LLMs, communities, creators, and dynamic brand experiences. The companies that adapt won’t just be found — they’ll be recommended, cited, and surfaced at the exact moments when intent is highest.
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