AI is changing search by changing how people discover, compare and evaluate businesses.
Customers can now ask detailed questions, compare options and receive synthesised answers without following the traditional search journey.
Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Gemini and ChatGPT are changing where brands can appear along that journey.
The bigger shift, however, is on the customer side. People are changing how they research, evaluate options and decide which businesses deserve further consideration.
This does not make SEO obsolete. It changes how visibility is earned and where that visibility creates commercial value.
At Calibrate Commerce, we view AI search as more than another optimisation tactic.
The key question is:
What is preventing customers and AI-powered discovery systems from finding, understanding and trusting this business?
AI-powered search changes how customers investigate decisions, not simply how search results appear.
Many businesses still treat search primarily as a ranking problem.
That view is becoming too narrow.
Google says users of its AI search experiences are asking longer, more specific questions and using follow-up queries.
Google also says its generative AI search features remain rooted in its core Search ranking and quality systems.
This means businesses do not need to choose between traditional SEO and AI search optimization.
They need a discovery strategy that supports both.
For leadership teams, the commercial question becomes broader.
Are important customer decisions happening in environments where the brand is absent, misunderstood or poorly represented?
The biggest AI search shift is not simply the adoption of new technology. It is the way people now search, evaluate and compare information.
The change became increasingly visible during 2025. By May, Google reported that AI Overviews had reached more than 1.5 billion monthly users across 200 countries and territories. Google also said early AI Mode users were submitting queries around two to three times longer than traditional searches.
AI-assisted search continued to scale in 2026. Google reported in June that AI Overviews had surpassed 2.5 billion monthly users, while AI Mode had passed one billion monthly users.
Research also suggests that AI summaries are changing how people interact with search results. Pew Research Center found that U.S. users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% when no AI summary appeared.
These figures are not directly comparable year over year, but they point in the same direction.
People are becoming more comfortable getting information inside AI-assisted search experiences. They can ask more detailed questions, compare options and continue researching without necessarily visiting multiple websites.
The commercial implication is important:
Brands need to remain relevant where the customer’s decision develops, not only where the final website visit happens.
Traditional search is not disappearing. The customer discovery environment is expanding.
AI is not simply adding another step to the customer journey. It is changing where research, comparison and validation take place.
A customer may now:
This makes the journey less linear than traditional search. Early research may also happen without a direct website visit.
Pew’s 2025 browsing analysis supports this shift, finding that users were less likely to click traditional search results when an AI summary appeared.
A business can influence consideration through several touchpoints:
The website remains important, but it is now part of a wider information ecosystem.
The commercial objective has not changed.
Build enough visibility, relevance and trust to move the right customer from discovery to evaluation and purchase.
Yes. Traditional SEO remains important, but its role in commercial visibility is becoming broader.
Businesses do not need to abandon established SEO practices as AI search evolves. Google continues to emphasise the importance of strong SEO foundations for generative AI experiences, including crawlability, indexability, internal linking, useful content and technical accessibility.
The difference is that rankings are no longer the only measure of search visibility.
A business may rank well in traditional search but appear less often in AI-generated comparisons. Another may earn citations or mentions without consistently holding the top organic position.
Google has also introduced generative AI performance reporting in Search Console for selected sites, reflecting the growing importance of understanding visibility beyond traditional rankings.
The role of SEO is therefore expanding.
The goal is not simply to rank higher. It is to make the business discoverable, understandable and credible across traditional and AI-powered search.
The challenge is no longer simply publishing more content.
Brands need to provide information worth selecting, citing and trusting.
Google continues to recommend useful, original and people-first content for its AI search experiences.
This becomes more important as generative AI makes generic information easier to reproduce.
Publishing another basic article may create little competitive advantage.
Brands should instead look for information advantages.
These might include:
AI can help create content.
It cannot manufacture the genuine experience that makes information worth selecting.
Customers do not evaluate businesses through their websites alone.
They also look for signals across the wider market, such as:
AI-powered search can draw on this broader information ecosystem when forming answers and recommendations.
That makes brand authority increasingly important.
A website can claim that a company is experienced, but independent evidence can make that claim more credible.
This is where digital PR can support commercial positioning.
The goal should not be generating artificial mentions for GEO.
It is building a credible external footprint that consistently supports what the business genuinely does well.
Review the homepage, About page, product and service pages, author profiles, external listings and structured data.
These sources should communicate a consistent picture of the business.
Avoid vague positioning such as “innovative digital solutions” when a more specific description is possible.
Entity clarity should make it easy to understand what the business does, who it serves, where it operates and why it is credible.
Better visibility cannot fix an unclear value proposition. It may simply expose that lack of clarity to a larger audience.
No special technical shortcut guarantees AI visibility.
Google states that websites do not need new machine-readable files, special AI text files or dedicated AI schema to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode.
Google has also clarified that llms.txt does not improve or reduce visibility in Google Search.
The technical foundations remain important:
Structured data can help search systems understand information, but it does not guarantee selection, ranking or citation.
The distinction is important:
Technical accessibility creates eligibility. Commercial relevance, information quality and authority create useful visibility.
This helps businesses avoid investing in technical solutions when the real constraint may be content, positioning or authority.
For ecommerce and local businesses, AI visibility can quickly become an operational data challenge.
Ecommerce brands should keep essential product information accurate and consistent across their website, structured data and merchant feeds.
This includes:
Local businesses should also keep locations, contact details, opening information, services and reviews consistent across relevant platforms.
Google recommends maintaining accurate Merchant Center and Business Profile information as part of strong search visibility.
This reflects a wider Calibrate Commerce principle: growth is rarely limited by marketing alone.
Search performance can depend on merchandising, technology, operations, customer experience and information governance.
Creating more content will not solve a visibility constraint that exists somewhere else in the business.
AI search measurement should connect visibility with commercial outcomes.
Businesses should avoid building another dashboard that reports exposure without explaining business impact.
Useful measures can include:
Google’s introduction of dedicated generative AI visibility reporting reinforces this broader approach to measurement.
We rarely evaluate acquisition channels in isolation, and AI search should be no different.
A small amount of AI-driven referral traffic can still be commercially valuable when customer intent is strong. Conversely, more citations mean little if they do not influence consideration or lead to qualified demand.
The goal is to connect search visibility with customer quality, commercial outcomes and sustainable growth.
The biggest AI search mistakes happen when businesses treat AI visibility as a tactic rather than a commercial challenge.
Traditional SEO still provides important foundations for discovery. Google continues to state that established SEO best practices apply to its generative AI search features.
More content does not automatically create more visibility.
Generic information is easy to reproduce, so brands need useful, differentiated content that addresses real customer questions.
AI visibility has limited commercial value if it does not help customers understand, evaluate or choose the business.
Brand authority should come from genuine expertise, credible sources and real market recognition, not manufactured references.
Inaccurate prices, availability, locations or business information can create visibility problems regardless of content quality.
Customers may encounter a brand through AI search before visiting the website.
Pew’s research illustrates why clicks alone may not capture the full impact of AI-assisted discovery.
Not every new AI optimisation tactic deserves investment.
The right approach depends on the business stage, customer journey and commercial constraint.
Absolutely.
Different growth stages create different constraints.
The right search strategy should change accordingly.
A startup may need to validate demand before investing heavily in an extensive GEO programme.
A scaling business may instead need stronger product information, authority, site architecture and content governance.
International expansion adds another layer of complexity. Entering markets such as the UAE or Saudi Arabia may require changes to language, positioning, product information and customer experience.
The right AI search investment therefore depends on where the business is today and what is limiting its next stage of growth.
The first step is not choosing an AI search optimisation agency.
It is identifying what is actually restricting commercial discoverability.
At Calibrate Commerce, we approach this through five stages.
Review customer questions, rankings, AI answers, competitors, citations and commercial performance.
Identify where the business disappears from the decision journey.
Strengthen technical accessibility, positioning, site structure, product information and entity consistency.
Build expertise, research, tools, examples and case studies that competitors cannot easily reproduce.
Strengthen credibility through reviews, partnerships, expert references and relevant market authority.
Connect visibility with qualified demand, brand interest, customer acquisition and revenue.
The objective is not to optimise every marketing channel at once.
It is to identify and solve the constraint preventing the business from reaching its next stage of growth.
AI is making search more conversational and synthesised, allowing users to ask longer questions and continue with follow-ups.
Yes. SEO remains important for crawling, indexing, accessibility and discoverability across AI-powered search.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) focuses on improving visibility in AI-generated search experiences. It should complement, not replace, SEO, content and authority.
No, not for Google Search. Google says llms.txt does not affect Search visibility or rankings.
Brands should provide useful, accurate and publicly accessible information that can be discovered through web search.
Track citations, mentions and prompt visibility, alongside qualified traffic, conversions and revenue.
No. AI search expands the discovery environment, while SEO continues to support the technical and content foundations that make businesses discoverable.
Start by improving content quality, entity clarity, technical accessibility, authority and business information before investing in additional AI-specific tactics.
AI search is changing how customers discover, compare and evaluate businesses. But the right response depends on what is actually limiting growth.
Calibrate Commerce identifies the constraint first, whether it involves SEO, content, authority, ecommerce data, technology or customer experience.
Build your AI search strategy with Calibrate Commerce or request an AI search visibility audit.
