Geoff Langdon
Head of Marketing Services
Search isn’t what it used to be
We’ve all noticed it. Google’s results are increasingly driven by AI. ChatGPT, Copilot and other tools now give direct answers, often without a single link in sight.
For businesses, this shift is significant. It changes how your content needs to work. And it changes how your customers find and understand what you do.
Here’s what’s happening, and what it means for your website, your visibility, and your digital marketing strategy.
The shift from links to answers
The traditional model of search was simple: type a question, click a link, visit a website.
Now people are getting their answers directly in the search results, or in a chatbot. Tools are using AI to read, summarise and explain content in real time. These include:
- Google AI Overviews (now rolling out to millions of users)
- ChatGPT with browsing enabled
- Microsoft Bing with AI summaries
- Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa
- All the other LLMs (Gemini, Claude, Grok, etc).
This means users are not always navigating to your site to read your content. They’re relying on machines to understand and represent it.
Why this matters for your business
If your content isn’t easy for machines to understand, there’s a good chance it’s being missed, misinterpreted or ignored entirely.
That could mean:
- Losing visibility to AI-generated content
- Missing out on featured snippets or FAQ answers
- Watching competitors get quoted while your content stays hidden
But it also creates a new opportunity, because most websites haven’t adapted yet.
How to stay visible
1. Structure your content clearly
AI tools look for signals: headings, summaries, FAQs, bullet points. Good structure increases your chances of being picked up.
2. Use schema markup
This is hidden code we add to your site that helps search engines understand what your content means. It’s a key tool for appearing in rich results and AI answers.
3. Clarify your key messages
Vague or jargon-heavy content gets lost in translation. Clear, concise copy is easier for machines to summarise. And it's more useful for people too!
4. Check how you’re already showing up
Try asking ChatGPT about your business. What comes back? Is it accurate? Is it compelling? If not, your content may need an upgrade.
What comes next
We’re still at the beginning of this shift.
Over the next 12-18 months we expect AI-powered search to become the default, not the exception. So now’s the time to make sure your content is being picked up, interpreted correctly and used to accurately represent you.
And if you’re not ready to go all-in on AI optimisation? No problem. Even small improvements - like adding schema to a few key pages - can make a measurable difference.