By Charles Lee Mathews. The new SEO playbook: orchestrating visibility across AI interfaces
From Google’s AI-powered search summaries to Microsoft’s integration of OpenAI into Bing, the mechanics of how information is surfaced have shifted at speed. The old search engine optimisation (SEO) playbook has been upended. In its place is an emerging landscape where machine learning models interpret intent, generate answers, and, increasingly, bypass traditional links altogether.
Brands and businesses have entered the era of a high-stakes recalibration of how to be found, and what being found even means.
Flying blind without benchmarks
“Everyone says SEO has changed. Few admit: we don’t know what the new normal is,” says Pareen Shah, Head of Analytics at Rogerwilco. “Yes. AI is rewriting how people search, how content is surfaced, and how brands get discovered. But here’s the truth: no one really knows how to ‘optimise’ for AI search yet because there’s no ranking page. No universal tracking. No reliable visibility reports. No standardised markup. No CTR (click-through rate) benchmarks. It’s the wild west of discovery, and most teams are flying blind,” Shah adds.
The 2025 Previsible AI Traffic Report highlights just how fast things are moving. Traffic from platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot grew 527% between January and May 2025. In high-consultative sectors such as legal, finance, health, and insurance, AI referrals now account for up to 1% of all sessions — a share once reserved for Google alone.
For brands and their media buyers, this isn’t a future scenario but a huge shift that will change SEO forever. AI assistants are already capturing user attention, often surfacing brands before they appear in traditional search rankings.
“The way we interact with search is rapidly evolving beyond traditional text-based queries,” says Rafiq Phillips, co-founder and CTO at Naritive Tech. “We’re seeing a rise in multi-input search, leveraging voice and vision. Just last week, this happened to me: I pointed my smartphone camera at an error code displayed on my dishwasher and asked Google’s Gemini: ‘What does this mean?’ Gemini, understanding both the visual input and my voice query, then guided me through a step-by-step resolution process. Unfortunately, the washer error was unfixable. But Gemini suggested the best new dishwasher based on my needs and budget.”
SEO to AI visibility orchestration
“SEO has always been in a state of constant evolution, and ‘under the hood’. However, the current media frenzy surrounding AI and the noticeable shift in user behaviour are finally making media owners connect the dots between established SEO best practices and the principles that underpin effective AI discoverability,” says Phillips.
“This isn’t traditional SEO. This is a distribution strategy, re-engineered for LLMs (AI large language models). We used to aim for SERP (search engine results page) domination. Now? It’s AI visibility orchestration, ensuring your brand is present in the places AI learns and quotes,” says Shah.
“And while we’re debating meta tags, Google is already inserting ads into AI-generated answers. Yes, SEO has changed. But let’s stop pretending we’ve figured it out. The real question isn’t: ‘Are we ranking?’ It’s: ‘Are we even being read?’,” she asks rhetorically.
Vlad Shvets, co-founder & CEO at Qvery.ai, says that “search engine optimisation” has now become “search everywhere optimisation”. Shvets adds: “Users no longer type a few keywords and scan blue links; instead, they ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s new AI conversational questions, and receive a personalised synopsis that takes into account location, language, and even their prompt history.”
“Media buyers are staring at the same chart: impressions in Google Search Console surge while clicks fall,” he says. Nicknamed the ‘crocodile mouth’, Shvets says the widening gap tells marketers that traffic is being answered in‑line, not driven to sites or ads.
Smartly curated answers, not links
“The intent behind the search doesn’t disappear, but the journey does. People now ask ‘Which thermal camera is best for roof inspections?’ in ChatGPT and expect a shortlist, not ten links. Brand traffic still exists, it’s just mediated by an LLM,” he says.
“SEO hasn’t just changed. Its entire surface area has expanded. We’re moving beyond the traditional Google search box to a broader ecosystem where people seek information across various channels, including conversational AI tools like ChatGPT,” says Scott Gray, co-founder of Supertube Associates.
“While the definition of SEO might now be broader, the core objective remains. For the short-to-medium term, Google search will retain significant value, and media buyers are still heavily invested there. However, savvy buyers have noticed the shift. Google itself is rolling out more conversational, AI-driven results that present information in a summary paragraph rather than a list of blue links,” Gray says, adding: “The new key performance indicator is no longer just about ranking number one; it’s about ensuring your brand is the authoritative voice mentioned prominently within that AI-generated answer, ahead of your competitors.”
A land of uncertainty
“Many would argue LLMs provide a far more intuitive experience in comparison to traditional search engines,” says Mark Wright, co-founder, Hello Infantry. Like Shah, he believes that the jury’s out on where things are going. “Most search engine marketers are aware of the shift, but only a few are able to provide solutions and strategies to adapt to the change,” he says.
“Exactly how the dust will eventually settle still isn’t clear, but I’m confident that businesses that focus on ‘search everywhere optimisation’, give themselves the best chance of maintaining target market visibility,” The big idea, says Wright, is all about taking a multiple platform approach as opposed to just hedging bets with Google.
When AI becomes the primary entry point for search, says Gray, the role of websites built by brands will change fundamentally. He explains that for transactional websites like e-commerce, the user experience will need to shift and cater to AI agents and not just humans. For information-based websites, such as news outlets, the threat will be greater. “Since AI can synthesise and present information directly, users may get all the answers they need without ever needing to click through to the source website, potentially devastating a traffic-based ad model,” he says.
Site visits become rare
“Media budgets will need to become more diversified. A portion will likely be reallocated to new ad formats within AI platforms. At the same time, a greater investment will be required for on-site experience and conversion optimisation, as each direct visit becomes exponentially more valuable,” Gray says.
“For media buyers, it’s also about the shift in changes in the buyers’ journey. Google is not always the start of the buyer journey. Media buyers need to consider social media, review sites, and LLMs. This changes how their paid strategies can intersect with these earlier discovery phases,” says Hana Montgomery, director of search experience, digital PR & content at Incubeta.
“AI search, including advanced modes like the one Google is currently testing in the US, can merge discovery and decision. With AI companies potentially introducing their own browsers, we could see an even more significant shift,” says Phillips.
“These AI-integrated browsers might provide direct answers within the browsing experience, potentially further collapsing the funnel. Media strategy needs to provide immediate, comprehensive content offering complete solutions, readily understood by AI using structured data, preparing for a future where AI is more directly involved in the user journey, potentially even within the browser itself,” Phillips adds.
One screen rules
“Generative AI doesn’t invent truth; it assembles it from what’s already out there. If your voice isn’t in the dataset, your brand disappears from the narrative. The new role of content isn’t to drive clicks, it’s to shape the inputs that shape the answers,” says Shah. “Consumers no longer ‘search and explore.’ They prompt and expect a conclusion. One query. One screen. One answer,” she adds.
Shvets says that marketers will re‑allocate spend toward the sources that feed AI systems, like specialist forums, high‑authority reviews, and structured data sets, because this is where visibility is now earned. He says that an answer graph is replacing the funnel.
The graph is a set of trusted nodes or citations that the model uses to justify its summary. Media strategy, therefore, shifts toward shaping the graph. How do you win today? “Earn citations in the sources your audience and the model both trust.”
What about tomorrow? As Shah and Wright point out, AI is evolving so fast that it is reckless or even foolish to predict this. The honest answer is that no one knows.
Charles Lee Mathews is a senior editor to MarkLives MEDIA and a senior writer to MarkLives.com, as well as co-founder of The Writers, a writing consultancy.
