Up until VERY recently, SEO has been the holy grail of digital marketing.
We’d squeeze keywords into sentences, alt tag everything, craft blog posts, and chase backlinks like annual bonuses depended on it. We’d then sit back and wait for Master Google to reward us with that glorious #1 ranking.
But right now, we’re sitting in the plot twist. Or more accurately: the paradigm shift.
People are no longer searching the way they used to. They stopped scrolling through search results and started going straight to AI (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude etc) to get immediate, summarised answers without ever touching your website. No links. No traffic. No attribution. Just vibes and a perfectly formed response that may or may not be lifted from your content.
So… what now?
AI is changing the rules of search
We’re officially living in the age of the answer engine.
When someone wants to compare the best wireless earbuds, plan a family trip to Queenstown, or understand what “fractional CMO” means without feeling like they’ve aged five years reading lengthy articles, AI steps in. It pulls together everything it knows from the internet (including your hard-earned content) and serves it up in a neat, digestible paragraph.
Efficient for the user. Terrible for your click-through rate.
That doesn’t mean SEO is obsolete. But the old playbook of metadata tweaks, obsessive keyword density, and building skyscraper content to outrank your competitors isn’t going to cut it on its own anymore. Why? Because AI is now the middleman. It’s scanning, summarising, and spitting out the answer… and your blog post is just one tiny slice of the source pie.
In other words: discovery is happening, but not attribution.
So how do you stay relevant when nobody’s clicking?
Here’s where things get interesting. Winning in this new landscape isn’t about ranking, it’s about resonating. You’re no longer just trying to get on page one of Google; you’re trying to get into the mental shortlist of the person asking the question.
Here’s how:
1. Be the source, not the echo
If you’re simply repeating what’s already out there, AI will blend your content into the average. But if you’re sharing original insights, real data, unique frameworks, or a clear point of view—it’s harder to ignore (even for the bots).
Publish your own research, case studies, or commentary on niche industry trends. These are gold for AI training models and build trust with your human audience, too.
2. Build a brand people ask for by name
People are not just asking “What’s the best CRM?”, they ask, “Is HubSpot still worth it in 2025?” That’s the power of brand recall. When people include your name in the query, you skip the queue.
Invest in brand marketing, not just performance. Top-of-funnel awareness is now bottom-line protection.
3. Get off Google island
Search has fractured. People are “Googling” on TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, and YouTube. And they’re asking AI for everything from product comparisons to personal advice.
You don’t need to be everywhere, but you do need to be in the places your audience spends time. Think omnichannel, but strategic.
4. Create content worth quoting
If your content reads like everyone else’s, AI will treat it like everyone else’s. But if your content sounds like you – funny, bold, opinionated, insightful etc, it’s more likely to get noticed and remembered.
Don’t optimise for the algorithm. Optimise for the person.
What this means for your strategy
SEO isn’t dead, but it’s no longer the lead actor. It’s part of an ensemble cast that includes brand building, content differentiation, and strategic distribution.
Success now looks like:
- Showing up in AI responses even without a backlink
- Getting mentioned by name in niche communities
- Being quoted in industry roundups and shared by real humans
- Owning a perspective, not just a set of keywords
This shift isn’t something to fear—it’s something to harness. If you focus on depth over breadth, identity over impressions, and originality over volume, you’ll still earn attention. It just won’t always show up in the same old dashboards.
So the question is no longer:
“How do I get more clicks?”
It’s:
“How do I become the brand people already have in mind when they ask AI for help?”
Harder? Sure. But also more meaningful, more sustainable, and (let’s be honest) way more future-proof.
