In The New Search Era, Make Sure Your Business Is Visible To AI

Forbes

18-07-2025

Jason Hall, Founder & CEO of FiveChannels, specializes in brand awareness, traffic & lead gen, marketing funnels, social media, and more.
Over time, we've seen SEO evolve from metadata hacks to mobile-first indexing and machine learning. In my 25-plus years in the industry, I've never seen the landscape shift as fast or as drastically as it is shifting right now.
Google's AI Overviews, the growing influence of tools like Gemini and ChatGPT, the rollout of IndexNow and the introduction of Google's AI Max ads aren't just updates to the playbook; they're a complete rewrite. We're not just optimizing for search engines anymore; we're optimizing for answers generated by artificial intelligence.
That means every business owner should be asking themselves one simple question: How do I get my business mentioned in an AI-generated result?
Content Might Be King, But Context Is Queen
For what seems like forever now, we've known the importance of content in SEO, but content alone isn't enough anymore. It has to be relevant, current and laser-focused on the user's intent.
Today's AI tools don't simply regurgitate the top search results. They synthesize, summarize and suggest. Whether it's Google Gemini generating a preview or ChatGPT offering product recommendations, the content that gets cited is the content that directly answers the questions users are asking clearly and completely.
Companies that have embraced this approach have built rich libraries of evergreen and timely content, from FAQs, buying guides and service explanations to blog posts that speak directly to their audience's concerns. These companies have positioned themselves not only to be on the first page of the search results but also to be AI-citable.
Structure For Machines, But Write Like A Human
Search engine crawlers have always needed structure, but now that AI is in the mix, structure is critical to comprehension. What we're telling our clients now is to write like a human, but format for a robot.
This means you still need proper use of headers, semantic HTML, internal links and schema markup like an FAQ page, or product and review snippets. This kind of structured content lets AI know not only what you're saying, but also how and why it matters.
However, structure alone doesn't cut it. With the rise of tools like Google's AI Max for search campaigns, which introduce broad-match and 'keywordless' targeting and real-time creative optimization, tone and clarity are more important than ever. These systems use context and content signals, such as search query context, landing-page relevance and creative assets, to better align with user intent and behavior. It's no longer just about what you say. It's about how you say it and whether AI can trust your content to speak on your behalf.
Chrome Engagement Is The New Backlink
If last year's leaked documents are to be believed, Chrome user engagement is now an official ranking factor on Google. This means how Chrome users interact with your website—their clicks, time on site, bounce rate and scroll depth—may matter as much, if not more, than traditional signals like backlinks. This change flips the script. You're no longer just competing for traffic. You're competing for attention.
Now more than ever, the first five seconds of a user's experience matter in a big way. If your page is slow, cluttered or confusing, users will likely leave, and Google will know it. A clean design, fast load time and clear value proposition are no longer just user experience best practices; they're essential to search visibility in the AI era.
AI Overviews And The Death Of Search Console Clarity
Many marketers have noticed that AI Overviews often cite multiple links together within a single result block, blending content from a range of domains and positions. While this may streamline the user experience, it muddies the waters for those of us analyzing performance. Suddenly, you don't know which content is being pulled or why.
So, what do you do? My advice is to pivot from obsessing over positions to focusing on engagement metrics. Are users spending time on your site? Are they clicking deeper? Are they converting? These are the signals AI models seem to notice and reward.
We're no longer optimizing for a blue link on page one. We're optimizing to be part of the AI's answer.
Fast Indexing Means Fast Visibility
Another major development in search is the growing adoption of IndexNow, which allows websites to notify search engines about content changes in real time.
While Google has not officially adopted IndexNow, other engines like Bing and Yandex have, and for fast-moving industries like e-commerce, that near-instant indexing can be a game changer. New products, price drops and flash sales depend on timing. The faster your updates appear in search results, the more likely you are to capture demand.
Even if Google isn't on board (yet), adopting IndexNow alongside structured data and a high-frequency content strategy can give you a visibility advantage across other channels and help you prepare for what may come next.
The Search Era Is Over; The Answer Era Has Begun
The rise of AI in search is not some future hypothetical; it's already here. If you're still playing by 2019's SEO rules, you're already behind.
Your marketing strategy requires a new mindset. You must think beyond keywords and backlinks and invest in high-quality, structured, user-focused content that is fast, helpful and keeps users engaged. You need to build sites that AI trusts.
After 25-plus years in digital marketing, I've learned to adapt with each wave of change. This one isn't just a wave; it's a tidal shift. Just like every transformation before it, those who move first and move smart will come out ahead.
In the age of AI, visibility may not go to the biggest brand or the biggest budget. It'll go to the business that provides the best answer faster and clearer than anyone else.
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