How AI is Changing Search Engines

RIP SEO. Today was the first time Google automatically pushed me into AI Mode for a basic search. I wasn’t on Labs. I didn’t opt in. No blue links. Just a clean AI-generated answer, with no website listings in sight. This isn’t an experimental feature hidden away anymore. It’s becoming the new default in our #AnswerEconomy. As someone who’s spent 20+ years leading web strategy and SEO efforts, I’ve never seen such a dramatic shift in how information is presented for search. We began moving beyond traditional SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) in late 2023. ChatGPT’s launch three years ago shifted the web from a search economy to an answer economy. At first, it felt like a challenge to Google’s dominance. (The number I’ve seen most often is that Google owns about 90% of the search market.) Last year, I asked myself whether “Google it” would still be a verb in 10 years. Now, after seeing Google’s AI Mode in action, I think the answer is yes, but not in the way we’re used to. The traditional cluttered Google search results page is being replaced by an AI-first interface. If your content isn’t structured, factual, and optimized for AI engines, you risk becoming invisible. The future isn’t just about ranking first. It’s about being the trusted source the AI quotes. No clicks. No CTRs. Just answers. Welcome to the next era of search. #SEO #GEO #AIEO #AIsearch #DigitalStrategy #ContentMarketing #GenerativeAI #SearchRevolution #DigitalMarketing #Marketing

There's a quiet revolution happening in the world of content and discovery, and we're barely talking about it. 🚨 SEO as we've known it is quickly becoming obsolete. AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Grok, and Claude are reshaping how buyers research, especially in high-involvement e-commerce sectors like consumer tech. Andrej Karpathy recently highlighted this perfectly: "It’s 2025 and most content is still written for humans instead of LLMs. 99.9% of attention is about to be LLM attention, not human attention." Imagine a buyer exploring a high-value product—say a premium smartwatch or a flagship smartphone. Rather than sifting through dozens of links, they're now simply asking: "Which smartwatch is better for health tracking: Fitbit Sense or Apple Watch Ultra?" This isn't hypothetical; it's happening right now. AI assistants are increasingly trusted as expert advisors that simplify complex product comparisons. For brands, this changes everything: ✅ Traditional SEO and "ranking #1 on Google" is no longer enough. ✅ AI agents handle the discovery process, dramatically shortening the consumer journey. ✅ Businesses must now optimize their content not only for human eyes but also for AI interpretation. (As Erik Wikander put it beautifully) A few eye-opening shifts already happening: 📉 Review platforms like G2 and StackOverflow have lost significant traffic post-ChatGPT. (Elena Verna) 📉 Big players like HubSpot, Figma, and Canva are seeing declining organic traffic as AI directly answers user queries. (Oliver Molander) 📉StackAI now receives more inbound from ChatGPT & Perplexity than from Google (Antoni Rosinol) The implications for Ecommerce and consumer tech brands are massive: Your product content must become "AI-native," meaning it's structured clearly enough for AI tools to pull and recommend. Content needs precise differentiation and expert-level detail because the AI gatekeepers are getting smarter at recognizing genuine value vs. fluff. As Tomasz Tunguz has highlighted, expect the emergence of AIO (AI Optimization)—the next evolution of content strategy where you're optimizing not just for search engines but for a multitude of personalized AI assistants serving diverse ICPs. In short, the future belongs to those who understand how to capture the attention of AI agents first, and users second. Traditional SEO is fading. We're entering a world where personal AI agents will act as gatekeepers, curating hyper-relevant content tailored exactly to individual needs and preferences. This demands a radical reimagining of CX tech stacks, particularly around product discovery, comparison, and commerce journeys. At Swirl®, we're addressing precisely this challenge by building specialized AI Agents—transforming customer experience into dynamic, personalized, and AI-optimized experiences. If your brand is navigating this shift and looking for ways to stay ahead, let's talk. #artificialintelligence #Ecommerce #AIO #SEO

😱 Google I/O 2025 felt like a wake-up call for SEOs. AI isn’t coming. It’s already here. And it might change more than we expect... ↓ Google Search doesn’t just show results now. It answers. It reasons. It acts. However, I don’t see this as a threat. I want to use this moment as an opportunity—to grow, to rethink how I do SEO, and to bring more value to my clients. I’m approaching this shift with curiosity and cautious optimism. I've written an in-depth guide to SEO after Google I/O 2025 (and an informal chat about Search with select SEOs and Googlers in Google Building 43): https://lnkd.in/etD2XvfU Here’s what stood out to me at Google I/O: → AI Mode breaks queries into parts and builds answers. It relies on Gemini 2.5. If your content isn’t clear, structured, and easy to quote, it’s skipped. → Deep Search does hundreds of searches in one go to build long-form answers. It pulls from sources that show E-E-A-T. That means your content needs to be credible, detailed, and sourced. → Personal results change everything. Google may soon use data from Gmail, Drive, Maps. There’s no one-size-fits-all SERP anymore. Your content has to speak to specific people, not just general audiences. → Agentic Search is wild. It can book appointments, buy tickets, and filter listings. Google is partnering with Ticketmaster, StubHub, Resy, and others. Your site better have clean APIs, structured data, and simple user flows. → Search Live and Astra bring voice and visuals together. Point your camera and ask a question. Now your image SEO and product photos need real alt text, filenames, and metadata. → AI shopping features include virtual try-ons and smart recommendations. If your product feeds and visuals are messy, you won’t be part of the answer. Clicks are dropping. Expectations are shifting. And SEO might finally be taken more seriously. My job has started to feel different. It’s not just about rankings or traffic anymore. Now I focus more on: ✅ Clear, reliable content. ✅ Writing for real people, not just search engines. ✅ Using schema where it helps. ✅ Making sure AI can actually read and trust what’s on the page. ✅ Not blocking what Google needs to access. Some parts are frustrating. Some feel like real progress. I’m trying to adapt. Trying to learn. And trying to help clients do the same. If you’re in SEO too, I’d love to hear how you’re thinking about this shift. Attached are some of the photos from my trip to Mountain View. P.S. Thank you John Mueller for the invite for the chat. It's an absolute honor! #SEO #AI #GoogleSearch #AIinSearch #Gemini #googleio #googleio2025

My last couple of posts have been heavy on this theme: The website isn’t the marketing hub anymore. AI is rewriting the rules. Now, I've gotten some pushback, and I get it. This idea is still cutting-edge in many industries and will be for a while—think the local remodeling contractor, who will remain dependent on Google map packs for some time, but . . . Shout out to John Andrews and Sam Harding for this idea to help make this point. Remember the Browser Wars of the ’90s? That battle wasn’t about browsers; it was about who controls distribution. The winner decided how users experienced the web. Sound familiar? We’re back in a similar fight. But this time, it’s not about browsers or websites. It’s about AI. And the harsh truth? Your website is no longer the center of your marketing universe. It’s just another client in an AI-driven ecosystem. If you're still building everything around your website, you’re missing where the customer journey actually starts today. AI is the new gatekeeper. Large language models are the new homepage. What to do: ~ Structure your content for clarity: headers, bullets, short paragraphs. ~ Feed your own materials into tools like ChatGPT custom GPTs. ~ Submit links to AI-friendly aggregators like Perplexity or Bing. Prompt-ready content is the new SEO. Search engines indexed keywords. AI indexes answers. You’re not writing for spiders anymore, you’re writing for synthetic assistants. What to do: ~ Write in question/answer format. ~ Use schema markup and structured data to help AI extract the right info. ~ Test your content through ChatGPT—does it summarize your message well? AI-native collateral is the new lead magnet. PDFs and landing pages are fine, but imagine giving your audience a branded GPT or app that solves their exact problem. What to do: ~ Create AI-guided chat tools (ManyChat, Intercom, GPT bots). ~ Turn key insights into prompt libraries for your audience. ~ Train a micro-assistant that delivers value in your voice and framework. The ecosystem is greater than the standalone domain. Your website is part of the story, not the whole book. You need to meet your audience inside other platforms, other feeds, other tools. What to do: ~ Cross-publish with intent: blogs become emails, videos, Shorts, GPT inputs. ~ Format content for syndication: highlights, quote blocks, stat cards. ~ Embed value inside tools—calculators, diagnostics, AI-guided quizzes. ~ Ask better questions: Can this be summarized by AI in under 60 words? Would AI recommend this if asked? Are we surfacing this in multiple ecosystems? Is this referenceable—not just linkable? We’re not in a web-first world anymore. We’re in an AI-first marketing environment. The tools have changed, but the principle hasn’t: Be where your customers are, and make it ridiculously easy for them to know, like, and trust you. Don’t just optimize your website. Optimize your ecosystem.

If you're still optimizing content like it's 2020, you're leaving opportunity on the table. Because AI-powered search isn't just changing the rules—it's creating an entirely new game. As AI transforms how content gets discovered across social platforms, the distance between visibility and invisibility comes down to adaptation. I've been studying this shift closely. And the businesses thriving aren't following old playbooks. They're embracing a new reality where AI understands intent, not just keywords. The winning approach to AI-powered search requires: → Speaking like humans, not websites (conversational keywords are the new SEO) → Answering questions before they're asked (FAQ-style content wins visibility) → Adapting to each platform's unique AI signals (what works on LinkedIn fails on Instagram) → Creating content in multiple formats (text, image, video—AI searches them all differently) → Structuring information clearly (AI rewards organization and clarity) The days of keyword stuffing are long gone. Now it's about context, relevance, and meaningful engagement. The most powerful optimization strategy? Creating content that AI recognizes as valuable because actual humans find it useful. The search bar isn't just a tool anymore. It's an intelligent curator connecting expertise to the people who need it most. How is your business adapting its content strategy for AI-powered search in 2025?

The game has changed. Page 1 of Google used to be the goal. Now? You need to be the answer that AI delivers, because 58% of searches in the U.S. already end without a click (SparkToro, 2024), and AI Overviews are stealing the spotlight. Search isn’t dead. But it is changing and if your brand doesn’t change with it, you’ll disappear. It used to be simple: open Google, type a query, scan the blue links, click through. Now? People are skipping the scroll and going straight to large language models, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, asking for what they need and getting direct answers. Here’s the catch: If your voice, your expertise, and your content aren’t already in the places these AIs pull from… You don’t exist in the new search landscape. And here’s the truth most people don’t realize: 💜 LinkedIn is one of the primary platforms that LLMs use to find context, credibility, and authority signals.  💜 Branded content, video, and media mentions feed into the data pool that trains AI to talk about you.  💜 If you’re not creating a visible, consistent personal brand now, you’re missing your shot to “rank” in the age of AI search. So, how do you make sure you show up in AI results? Let me break down the 3 things I’m telling every client: 1️⃣ Build a brand that LLMs can “see”  AI can’t invent your authority, it can only amplify what’s already public.  Post original thought leadership. Share case studies. Publish video insights. Give interviews. Every post is a breadcrumb leading AI (and humans) back to you. 2️⃣ Treat LinkedIn like your SEO hub  In 2025, LinkedIn isn’t just a networking site, it’s an indexable, high authority content engine. Long-form posts, consistent messaging, and keyword rich storytelling boost your discoverability both on LinkedIn and inside AI models. 3️⃣ Diversify your content signals  Want to show up more often? Get quoted in industry publications. Collaborate with other credible voices. Use video to deepen engagement. The richer your content footprint, the more data AI has to work with and the more likely your brand becomes part of the “answer” in future queries. Are you going to wait for someone else to own your space in AI search? Or are you going to start building the kind of brand that shows up everywhere your audience is asking questions? #Leadership #PersonalBranding #AI #LinkedInStrategy #SEO #SocialSelling #Marketing

AI search just changed the rules of brand discovery. Quietly. In the last few weeks, I’ve spoken with dozens of creators on Passionfroot. Their Substack newsletters, YouTube videos, Instagram Reels, and even LinkedIn posts are showing up in Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT responses. What used to disappear in the feed is now surfacing in AI-generated answers. Here’s what’s changed: 1. AI search models are blending SEO with credibility. They’re no longer just pulling from optimized pages. They’re summarizing and citing creators as trusted sources. 2. More platforms are becoming part of the search layer. Instagram content is now indexed by Google. Substack newsletters are being crawled like blogs. YouTube videos are embedded in summaries. Even well-structured LinkedIn posts can show up. 3. Creator content is now part of the answer - not just the awareness funnel. Product demos, reviews, explainers, and “how-to” content are being quoted directly in AI responses. 4. Search intent overlaps with social behavior. People ask AI questions like “how to,” “top tools,” and “best alternatives.” Creators already speak that language - and that’s what AI models prioritize. Why this matters: - Only ~25% of surfaced content in categories like beauty comes from brands -the rest comes from creators and third-party voices - Creator content is driving visibility and shaping perception - Feed-based content now has long-tail discoverability - Social is becoming search-native. And distribution needs to follow How to stand out: - Work with creators who can explain, demo, and answer real questions - Use natural language that mirrors how people search - Structure your content: captions, alt text, headlines, transcripts - Track what questions people are asking and what content’s surfacing. Tools like Profound are making it easier to understand how brands show up in AI results (just starting to test this ourselves!) - Think cross-platform: the more touchpoints, the more visibility - Treat creator content like long-term search assets, not just campaign bursts Stay frooty🍊 Jen

“Answer engines” are redefining how people search. AI-based search queries are longer, more specific, and much more conversational. Instead of “best plush toy,” users now ask questions like, “Where can I find a hand-stitched plush puppy with premium stuffing that doesn’t fall apart?” We’ve also seen these question queries create feedback loops: a user asks a question, sees an answer, and then fires off a follow-up. How does this change our search optimization? The traditional search funnel is becoming a conversation, but the journey remains the same. Hence, I think we can use the same model as our topical SEO strategy, with these changes: * Keywords → Questions * Topics (i.e., keyword clusters) → Question Clusters * Keyword Variants → Question Variants * Subtopics → Question Refinements (these go inside the content) The process also remains similar to topical SEO: 1/ Think in question clusters: Topical SEO is the go-to strategy for addressing question variants with the same user intent. These variants are growing in number; strategically covering them in your content can address user intent more effectively. 2/ Understand user intent by analyzing subtopics: Analyze how responses to questions are structured to identify the subtopics that make up user intent. You’ll likely see these appear as follow-up questions. 3/ Match and improve: Add depth and comprehensive answers. Including your unique angle (i.e., information gain) can help you outrank competitors and get cited more often.

AI is changing local search. Soon distance will matter less than context. Google announced yesterday Gemini Pro’s ‘prior chats’ memory feature. OpenAI’s ChatGPT has had memory for over a year. The key difference? ChatGPT passively picks up on recurring details about you like your preferences. Gemini, on the other hand, acts as a recall system—allowing you to reference all past conversations on demand. Part due to Gemini’s phenomenal context window. This shift has massive implications for local search. (And, really, all search.) For years, ranking in local search was primarily determined by proximity—how close the business was to the user. We see it in the data. But now? That’s changing with AI Search. If I’m standing in front of a coffee shop, search engines still prioritize distance for “coffee” and that makes sense. But when I ask an AI to help me find an attorney for patent portfolio analysis or research the best car for my needs, physical distance is much less important than the conversations I’ve had before. Gemini, with its vast memory, won’t just find the nearest option—it will find the best fit based on everything it knows about me. Because it’s very likely that I’ve had a conversation about my patents or about my car interests prior with the AI. That means brands can no longer rely on traditional local ranking factors. The playing field is shifting. Companies that structure their data correctly and make (all) their information available in AI-friendly formats will dominate. This isn’t a threat—it’s an opportunity. The brands that act now to structure more of their data will own the future of search. This aligns with Kahneman’s (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow—our mental shortcuts (like assuming closer is better) are being disrupted by AI’s ability to process vast amounts of information and memory context effortlessly. Are you preparing your brand for the AI-driven search landscape?

AI Overviews are now appearing in 47% of Google searches, and up to 65% of travel searches, yet most travel marketers are completely unprepared for this shift. Here's what our data shows about winning in the AI-first search landscape: The most shocking finding from our recent study: Position in organic search DIRECTLY correlates with AI Overview inclusion. When our clients rank #1 organically, they appear in the AI Overview 100% of the time. At position #2, this drops to 69%, and position #3 only gets mentioned 42% of the time. Translation: SEO still matters, but with a new end goal - MENTIONS, not just clicks. Here's what's actually working for travel brands right now: 1. QUESTION-BASED HEADINGS Structure your content with H2/H3 headers phrased as actual questions: "What are the best seasons to visit Tuscany?" This gives AI models a natural hook to pull your content. 2. ANSWER FIRST, DETAILS LATER Provide the direct answer immediately after the question heading, then elaborate. If AI only grabs one sentence, make sure it's complete and valuable on its own. 3. STRUCTURED DATA SUPREMACY AI models love structure. Use schema markup, bullet points, and numbered lists. We've seen mention rates increase 3X when comparing structured vs. unstructured content with identical information. 4. THIRD-PARTY VALIDATION AI heavily weights external mentions. Getting your brand included in "Best of" lists and industry roundups dramatically increases the likelihood of being mentioned for relevant queries. 5. DON'T BLOCK AI CRAWLERS Check your robots.txt file. If you're blocking crawlers like GoogleBot-News or OAI-SearchBot, you're essentially invisible to AI. The metrics that matter have changed. Traffic is no longer the primary KPI - it's brand VISIBILITY and SENTIMENT across AI results. Is your marketing team still optimizing for yesterday's search landscape? #AImarketing #travelSEO #AIOverviews #searchmarketing #travelmarketing