Over the years, marketers have used search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to enhance website traffic, brand visibility, and sales. Now, with the launch of generative AI chatbots, like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, the world of digital marketing is undergoing rapid changes. These AI tools are altering the information-seeking landscape and marketers are struggling to stay ahead of the curve.
As Patrick Coffee, a marketing and advertising reporter for CMO Today, notes, “We’re seeing a rise in what’s called zero-click search, where people resolve their queries devoid of clicking any links.” The new terminology encapsulates how SEO, which was once widely regarded as an element of digital marketing, is being redefined in real-time in his two-part statement.
Decline of Internet Traffic Due to the Improvements in the Capturing Method without Clicking
Generative AI is disrupting search by creating AI-generated summaries at the top of search results pages by traditional search engines like Google. Users are increasingly avoiding search engines and using branded AI services like ChatGPT and Perplexity for questioning or product recommendations.
This has led to a decline in Safari traffic, with Apple’s senior vice president testifying that the decline is partly due to users bypassing websites to receive answers from AI summaries. A Bain & Company survey showed that 80% of participants engaged in self-directed online searches within 40% of their responses without clicking, a significant shift for marketers who have invested millions in SEO over decades.
Marketers Grapple with a New Search Landscape
For marketers, the question now is how to adapt. SEO—focused on optimizing content for people and search engines—shifts toward strategies meant to flatter AI systems. Coffee continues, “A lot of businesses, particularly in retail and e-commerce, are noticing these behavioral changes are beginning to impact their click-through rates, their website traffic, and their overall visibility in search.” “It’s panicking them,” said Coffee.
To address this shift, some have begun using the terms GEO (generative engine optimization), AEO (answer engine optimization), and AIO (artificial intelligence optimization) to define what is becoming a new cottage industry. The goal is to better brand visibility to the bots that power the AI chat interfaces.
Thus, it requires a foundational restructuring of websites, not only in content but also in form. Marketers adjust loading speeds, revise tracking tags, and guarantee their sites are accessible to the bots that populate LLMs with the training data they require in order to respond.
From Humans to Bots: A Paradigm Shift
Somebody once stated that people optimize websites for AI crawlers and not real human beings. This quote Coffee provided makes the most sense in explaining, “The idea of a website is no longer optimizing for a human reader, but optimizing for the bots that are there to gather the data.” Some companies go all out and dedicate entire pages intended solely for bots.
In terms of language preferences and styles, things are changing as well. “They found that the ChatGPTs of the world prefer this conversational language.” Coffee argues that ChatGPT’s being trained to speak in a friendly manner is nothing new, but the fact that they do diverges from the traditional SEO style, which employed high-level vocabulary.
Case in Point: Mailchimp’s AI Pivot
One clear example is the email software powerhouse Mailchimp. The company started pivoting their content strategy with a focus on AI pointers, so it is obvious that web traffic was declining. Adjusting the content structure on the said peripheral used for browsing AI is very important to display content in a world with negligible direct users.
OpenAI is rolling out new features to its ChatGPT AI assistant to address concerns from marketers. “OpenAI announced last month that it will soon roll out a shopping button where people who search for keywords can navigate straight to the merchant hyperlink,” Coffee stated. Although this alteration is marginal, it indicates a shift towards aligning LLM-based product searches with query-driven e-commerce sales.
A Readjustment in Digital Marketing Strategy
This example serves as a warning for marketers: adjust their strategies or fall into oblivion. The fast proliferation of generative AI alters how individuals search, consume, and interact with content—one dimension of presence that affects visibility is being reinvented instantaneously.
The changes come amid broader debates about the role of AI across industries, including healthcare, where UnitedHealth Group is utilizing AI in more than 1,000 applications, including summarizing the dialogues between doctors and patients as well as sorting insurance claims. Nonetheless, Coffee’s reporting illustrates the marketing industry is the first one to be fully disrupted by AI.
These strategies have not proven to be effective…yet. However, one conclusion can be drawn: in the presence of AI technologies, search and everything revolving around it and the technology will transform entirely.
