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In case you’ve missed it, AI has shifted the dial on search. Forget SEO, GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is where it’s at.

How can marketers keep pace, adapting their search strategy to an evolving playing field?

What is the impact of AI on search?

Answer engines, zero-click search and the ‘Crocodile Effect’ – AI has redefined the language of search in an amazingly short time.

What does this mean for search, and for marketers trying to maintain online awareness and engagement?

AI overview summaries now appear above organic search results. Their position on the page gives perceived authority, while simultaneously pushing sponsored results (PPC) and sites that previously had high organic ranking down the page.

As a result, AI has shifted the search landscape, turning search engines into ‘answer engines’. When users can get the answers they want from an AI summary on the search engine results page (SERP), the number progressing to another website drops dramatically – a phenomenon known as ‘zero click search’.

Research at the start of 2025 showed that only 60% of searches now lead to a click.

This creates the “Crocodile Effect”, where search impressions (visibility on SERPs) are rising but resultant clicks are falling. For marketers, this means a “widening jaw” in performance metrics, where search engine visibility no longer translates to website visits.

How has AI changed search behaviour?

As users adapt to this new world of search, their behaviours are changing.

• Searches now lean towards longer, more conversational questions. Knowing that AI will curate responses from a number of sites, users are becoming more specific and nuanced in their searches.
• Many users now rely on the AIO (AI overview) summary to provide their answers, leading to a significant (estimated at anywhere between 15% and a huge 64%) decline in website traffic.
• Particularly for e-commerce, visual search is growing rapidly, with over 36% of consumers having used tools like Google Lens and Bing Visual Search to find what they’re looking for.
• The platforms used for search are changing. The traditional behemoth search engines are seeing competition from social search on platforms like TikTok and Reddit.
• AI Overview results are being used as research tools, enabling buyers to filter and shortlist potential providers without visiting their websites.
• Voice search is evolving and, as AI advances, delivering better results. This is driving a trends towards voice activated search and longer, more detailed and conversational queries.

What does this mean for marketing metrics?

Maybe ironically, given all we’ve said about the negative impact of AI on web traffic, the speed and ease of getting AI results is driving more searching.

However, as above, AI overviews are leading to a huge decline in organic traffic. Some industries have been hit harder than others, with sectors like hospitality, travel and news seeing the biggest impact.

Some content is also seeing bigger hits than others. Historically successful SEO content – ‘how to’ articles, checklists; the type of content that AI can easily summarise at the top of a SERP – are being particularly impacted.

Instead of visiting your website to view and download this content, users are able to access it immediately in AI Overviews – particularly frustrating for marketers who would typically put this content behind a contact form to capture interactions.

All of this is leading to the Crocodile Effect we mentioned earlier, where large volumes of views aren’t leading to clicks.

How should marketers adapt their strategies for AI search?

The traditional buyer journey is being disrupted, truncated and rewritten. Having a presence in AI overviews is therefore vital. What steps do you need to take to achieve this?

1. Evolve your SEO strategy. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is morphing into Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). Your focus no longer needs to be solely on ranking #1 in Google, but on being cited in AI Overviews.
2. This means building credibility, trust and authenticity. Maybe even more than search engines, AI is seeking authoritative sources. Build your online brand and use digital PR to drive online mentions, backlinks and visibility that AI will associate with authority.
3. AI values content differently to search engines. Checklists; FAQs; content with clear structure – all of these will help AI to identify and use the information you share.
4. AI also prioritises recent content, particularly if it demonstrates “EEAT”:  Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust. Keep your website fresh, with new content added regularly.

Is there an upside to AI-driven search for marketers?

The good news (after all that talk of disruption) is yes. There are definitely positives that marketers can take away from the rise of AI search.

The move from SEO to GEO isn’t going to reverse – but neither is it all bad news for marketers. There are steps you can take – now, today – to respond to the AI search revolution.

1. Revisit your content. Your approach to GEO should be content led. And that content needs to be genuinely valuable. Keywords won’t be enough to feature in AI search; your content needs to deliver usable answers, respond to real questions, and be conversational and natural in tone.
2. Reframe your marketing reporting. You will have to rethink some of your metrics (or at least, put some narrative around the figures) to explain the changes AI has wrought and the effect these will have on website clicks and form fills.
3. Communicate the positives. Web traffic may be down, but people who do make it to your site are likely to be higher quality. When casual browsers can get the information they need from an AI summary, the leads you get on your site will be better informed (having done their preliminary filter via the AI results) and further down the buying journey, with clearer intent. While traffic will drop, conversion rates should increase.
4. Capitalise on this by upgrading your website and lead nurture experience. Ensure those high-value leads can easily find what they’re looking for, and find ways to capture their details and nurture them with relevant, tailored content.

Marketing for successful AI search

While AI has upended search and SEO as we know it, for marketers, and particularly content marketers, there are clear steps you can take to respond.

Devise a content strategy that answers user queries in a way that gives you AI credibility. Build a strong online brand – consistent, visible – that gives AI the assurance that you’re trustworthy. Recognise that you will see fewer – but higher-quality – leads, and take steps to nurture them.

Perivan’s BrandEnable is the gatekeeper of your brand – online and off – giving you assurance that your brand remains consistent, and enabling you to focus on the content, digital PR and GEO strategies that will deliver AI search success.

Discover what BrandEnable could deliver for your brand here, or contact us to find out more.