For many organisations, improving visibility online has traditionally meant improving visibility on Google.
If your website appeared prominently within search results, you had a greater opportunity to attract visitors, generate enquiries, increase donations, recruit volunteers, increase admissions, or secure new customers.
That principle has not changed.
What is changing is how people search.
Increasingly, users are turning to platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot to find information, compare providers, research solutions, and answer questions.
Rather than reviewing pages of search results, users are often presented with a direct answer.
This shift is creating new opportunities for organisations that understand how search behaviour is evolving. It is also creating challenges for those who continue to rely solely on traditional search engine optimisation.
The reality is that visibility online is no longer just about ranking well on Google.
It is about ensuring your organisation can be discovered wherever people are looking for information.
Search behaviour is changing
Think about how people searched online a few years ago.
Most searches were relatively short and focused on keywords.
Someone looking for marketing support might search for “SEO agency Essex”. A parent researching schools might search for “best primary schools near me”. A charity supporter might search for “local charities to support”.
Today, searches are becoming far more conversational.
People increasingly search in the same way they speak.
Questions such as:
“How can I increase website traffic?”
“What’s the best way to attract more school admissions?”
“How do charities improve donor retention?”
are becoming increasingly common.
Research from Accenture found that 65% of consumers now prefer receiving direct answers rather than browsing through multiple links. At the same time, around 40% of search queries now contain natural language rather than traditional keyword-focused searches.
People are increasingly looking for answers, not simply websites.
As a result, organisations need to think differently about the content they create and the questions they answer online.
The move from keyword search to answer-based search
For many years, SEO focused heavily on identifying keywords and improving rankings.
While keywords remain important, the way people discover information is changing.
Today, users are often looking for answers rather than search results.
AI-powered tools are capable of summarising information, comparing options, and recommending resources before a user ever visits a website.
This has contributed to the growth of what are commonly referred to as zero-click searches, where users receive the information they need without leaving the platform they are using.
Recent research suggests that approximately 60% of searches now result in either a zero-click experience or an AI-generated response.
For organisations, this means visibility can no longer be measured purely by rankings.
Being visible increasingly means becoming a trusted source of information that search engines and AI platforms are willing to reference.
Where traditional SEO still fits
Whenever new technology emerges, there is often speculation that existing approaches are becoming obsolete.
We have already seen headlines claiming that AI will replace SEO.
The reality is far less dramatic.
Technical SEO remains incredibly important.
Search engines and AI platforms still need to understand your website and content. Factors such as page speed, mobile responsiveness, internal linking, crawlability, metadata, user experience, and site structure continue to influence visibility.
In fact, many of the foundations that support strong SEO performance are also helping organisations become more visible within AI-driven search experiences.
This is why investing in a long-term SEO strategy remains just as important as ever.
The organisations that perform well in AI-powered search are often the same organisations that have invested consistently in strong SEO foundations.
Your website still matters
One misconception surrounding AI search is that websites are becoming less important.
In reality, websites remain the source of much of the information that AI platforms rely upon.
If your website is outdated, poorly structured, slow to load, or difficult to navigate, it becomes harder for both users and AI systems to understand your content.
A well-designed website supports visibility by making information easier to access, easier to understand, and easier to reference.
This is one reason why organisations continue to invest in professional website design and development alongside their wider marketing strategy.
Search behaviour may be evolving, but the importance of having a strong website remains unchanged.
Creating content for humans and AI
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding AI search is that organisations now need to write content for machines rather than people.
The opposite is true.
The content most likely to perform well across both traditional search engines and AI-powered platforms is content that genuinely helps its audience.
That means answering questions clearly.
Using natural language.
Providing useful information.
Structuring content logically.
Demonstrating expertise and experience.
Many of the qualities that make content valuable for readers also make it easier for AI systems to understand.
This is why high-quality content creation is becoming increasingly important as part of a wider visibility strategy.
Whether you are creating blog articles, service pages, guides, case studies, or resources, the objective should always be the same: help users find the information they need.
Authority is becoming increasingly important
AI platforms are not simply looking for websites that mention specific keywords.
They are looking for sources that appear trustworthy, accurate, and authoritative.
This is where many organisations have an opportunity.
Every useful blog article, guide, case study, webinar, and educational resource contributes towards building authority within your sector.
Over time, this helps search engines and AI platforms develop a stronger understanding of what your organisation does and the topics you are knowledgeable about.
For example, a charity regularly publishing useful content around fundraising, supporter engagement, and donor communications is building authority around those topics. Similarly, a school publishing helpful content for parents is strengthening its authority within the education sector.
This is one reason we continue to encourage organisations to invest in educational content rather than focusing solely on promotional messaging.
Measuring the impact of AI search
Many organisations are already receiving traffic from AI platforms without realising it.
Visitors arriving from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot are often grouped within referral traffic inside Google Analytics 4.
As a result, businesses may be benefiting from AI-driven visibility without actively monitoring it.
Understanding where this traffic is coming from can provide valuable insights into which content is being referenced and how users are discovering your organisation.
If you would like to understand how to monitor this activity, we recently published a guide on tracking AI traffic in Google Analytics 4.
Looking ahead
Google remains the dominant search platform and continues to receive hundreds of billions of visits each month.
However, AI-powered search tools are growing rapidly and influencing how people discover information online.
For organisations, the question is no longer whether AI search matters.
It already does.
The more important question is whether your organisation is creating the kind of content that both people and AI systems can understand, trust, and recommend.
Ultimately, the principles remain largely unchanged.
Create useful content.
Answer genuine questions.
Maintain a technically sound website.
Demonstrate expertise.
Provide value.
The organisations that do those things consistently are likely to remain visible, regardless of whether the search begins on Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or whatever comes next.
Looking to improve your online visibility?
At Blake Mark Productions, we help businesses, charities, schools, and growing organisations improve their visibility through practical SEO strategies, content creation, website optimisation, and long-term digital marketing support.
Whether you are looking to strengthen your search performance, improve your content strategy, or better understand how AI search is influencing your visibility, our team can help.