For decades, the rules of digital discovery were simple: you had a question, you typed it into a search box, and you got a list of links. Our job was to sift through that information to find an answer. That era is over. Today, we don’t search for information. We search for answers, and AI search engines deliver them directly, fundamentally changing how brands are found online. This shift is changing the routes of digital discovery and challenging the foundations of how brands are found online.
Traditional search engines are like a librarian who points you to a section of the library. You type in a query, and they provide a list of relevant books (websites) for you to read through yourself. AI search, on the other hand, is like asking the librarian a question and having them read all the relevant books for you, then returning with a single answer, complete with citations.
The goal is no longer clicks – it’s credibility. Because why click through to your blog post when the AI has already extracted the key takeaways? This means the primary goal is no longer just to be a destination but to be a trusted data source for the AI itself. Being featured as a source in an AI-generated summary is the new page-one ranking.
Brace yourself for a drop in organic traffic
With the widespread integration of AI-powered summaries, like Google’s AI Overviews, directly into search results, the familiar “blue links” are losing their prominence. These AI-driven features can cause a significant decrease in organic traffic, with some analysts predicting drops of anywhere from 20% to 60% in certain industries. This is because users are getting their questions answered directly on the search results page, reducing the need to click through to a website.
Content that was once a reliable traffic driver – listicles, how-to guides, definitive explanations- is now prime material for AI summarisation, effectively cutting the publisher out of the loop. And success is no longer measured by who can attract the most visitors to their website, but by who can most effectively influence the AI’s answer. The new goal is to establish such credible authority in your niche that the AI views your data as a trusted source.
Users don’t type keywords, they ask questions
The very nature of how we interact with search is changing. Instead of typing in keywords, users are engaging in a sophisticated conversation with a knowledgeable assistant. Instead of a query like “best running shoes flat feet,” a user might now ask, “I have flat feet and I’m training for a 10k. What are the top three running shoes I should consider, and why?”
This is a complex prompt containing a medical condition, a personal goal, and a request for a comparative analysis. AI is equipped to understand this nuance. It will crawl the web, analyse trusted reviews, digest technical specifications, and present a direct and comprehensive answer, potentially negating any need for the user to click a single link.
AI won’t just take your word for it
AI’s primary objective is to provide the most accurate and trustworthy answers. To do this, it cannot simply take your website’s ‘About Us’ page at face value. AI performs due diligence, seeking independent, external validation from a wide array of sources it deems credible. This is where the strategic value of public relations and earned media becomes increasingly important.
These AI-powered search engines are designed to understand user intent on a much deeper, more conversational level. They are not just matching text, instead they are comprehending context, nuance, and the underlying goal of a search query.
Forget backlinks
Another significant change is that AI searches are not solely reliant on backlinks – a contrast to traditional SEO. The new algorithms are sophisticated enough to understand context and authority without a hyperlink. An unlinked mention of your company’s name in an authoritative source is now recognised as a powerful signal of credibility. This means that the core objective of PR to generate positive, third-party storytelling in reputable media is no longer just a brand-building exercise but a direct route to digital discovery.
Even if a user doesn’t click through to your website, having your brand or content featured in an AI-generated summary builds recognition and trust. For businesses today, the goal is to be the definitive source of information and the name that consistently appears in the AI’s curated answers.
Inconsistent data makes you invisible
While positive validation builds trust, inconsistent data erodes it. This highlights the critical responsibility to control your digital narrative and ensure every mention aligns with the brand you aim to build.
AI pulls data from your Google Business Profile, your website, customer reviews, and other online directories. When it encounters misalignment, such as a different closing time across websites, an old address on a forgotten directory, a conflicting service description, it loses confidence in your data. Faced with uncertainty, the AI search engine is more likely to completely exclude your business from its answer than to risk providing incorrect information.
Put simply, an outdated or incorrect listing can make you functionally invisible – because your online listings are now dynamic data sources that directly feed the discovery engines. Ensuring your business is understood and trusted by AI requires a proactive approach to managing your entire digital footprint:
- First, conduct a thorough audit. Identify every platform where your business information exists, from major platforms like Google and Meta to industry-specific directories and data aggregators.
- Second, establish a single source of truth. Define the correct version of all your core business information: legal name, address, phone number, website, hours of operation, services offered, and company description.
- Finally, enforce consistency and build credibility. Systematically update every single one of your online listings to match your single source of truth.
Simultaneously, invest in a proactive communications strategy designed to generate the high-quality, third-party earned media coverage that AI interprets as a definitive signal of trust.