Search Transformed: The Rise Of Agentic AI

Forbes

2 days ago

Adrien Menard, Co-founder & CEO at Botify, a leading agentic and AI search optimization solution for brand visibility.
AI agents and bots are reshaping the future of search. This shift represents a comprehensive transformation of the consumer journey and necessitates a re-evaluation of how companies adapt their marketing strategies.
Today, AI bots and agents are driving more than 50% of web traffic. On our clients' e-commerce websites alone, traffic from AI bots has more than doubled since February this year.
This transformation is redefining how consumers discover content, products and brands across the internet. In this new landscape, traditional SEO tactics (on their own) are no longer enough. To remain visible, brands must adapt to the rise of AI search bots and automated AI agents that interpret, summarize and even make decisions for end users.
From Human Queries To AI Bots And Agents
For years, search engines like Google dominated how users found information online. Success in this space meant ranking well among the "10 blue links" that populated in response to typed queries.
But the emergence of AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Mistral's Le Chat has shifted that model. These platforms do more than answer questions with mere suggestions. Now, they proactively generate relevant, in-depth responses, summarize web content and, in many cases, keep the consumer within the platform instead of directing traffic to the original source.
The shift is subtle but seismic: AI bots and agents are intermediaries, sometimes gatekeepers, determining what information is surfaced. They will use website content on behalf of consumers to learn about brands, evaluate products and make recommendations directly within AI search platforms in a matter of seconds.
In effect, they're becoming the new search interface—and brands need a strategy that reflects that. It's the future of search, and both brands and marketers must prepare.
From Traditional SEO To Enhanced Online Visibility
While standard SEO practices like metadata optimization, internal linking and page speed still matter, they're no longer sufficient on their own. AI bots and agents analyze context, understand nuance and generate content based on a blend of data sources, including indexed content, LLM training data and real-time crawling.
Before brands can experience the full potential of agentic AI in search, critical pieces of the foundation—search indexes—need to be put in place. This will help AI search systems enable the delivery of accurate, real-time information—so they can accurately complete tasks on behalf of the consumer. From what I've seen in this space, most AI search platforms rely on outdated training data.
In this landscape, the ability to influence how bots and agents interpret your brand and interact with your website is just as important, if not more, than where you rank.
Rethinking Visibility In The Agentic AI Era
To thrive in this new era of search, brands must start thinking differently and more creatively. That starts with answering a few key questions:
1. Which bots are crawling your site, and what are they doing? Bots now make up over half of all web traffic. Understanding the difference between bots that index, train or summarize is significant to the future of your business. This knowledge lets you control which content is seen or hidden.
2. What content do you want AI to see, and what should it skip? You don't need AI crawling every page on your site. Focus your efforts on making high-value content like product specs, mission-driven content, customer reviews and educational articles accessible. This is especially important because many AI platforms struggle to crawl and index content rendered through JavaScript, such as interactive features and visual elements.
3. Are your updates visible in real time? Timeliness matters. If your business depends on launches, inventory updates or live events, AI search platforms must be able to access and interpret this content quickly. If not, you risk being bypassed by competitors pushing content to search indexes. These search engines have real-time indexing capabilities that feed into platforms like ChatGPT.
4. Do you want AI models training on your content? Allowing content to be used in training has pros and cons. Brands must weigh the opportunities for brand visibility against data ownership concerns. Without your content in AI training datasets, your brand may be underrepresented in AI-generated responses, potentially ceding visibility to competitors who do allow their content to be used.
The New Visibility Playbook Relies On Agentic AI Workflows
The rise of agentic AI demands a new playbook that accounts for consumer, bot and agent behaviors.
Brands must assess risks and opportunities as they rethink their workflows and incorporate agentic AI. That means understanding how content is currently accessed and interpreted by AI platforms. This insight helps you identify what's working and where visibility gaps exist. From there, you can take control of how your brand appears by customizing how bots view your content. Leaving it up to chance can result in misrepresentation or missed opportunities.
Equally important is empowering your team with AI agents and investing in automation to control your brand narrative across all search platforms. Agentic AI isn't something that happens externally. It should be reflected in the tools and workflows you use internally. The right tools will analyze your data, make smart recommendations and implement optimizations, increasing your productivity without stretching your resources thin.
Finally, you must treat this as a living strategy, using data to iterate continuously. AI search is dynamic, and maintaining visibility means optimizing not just for traditional crawlers but for the AI agents shaping the next phase of digital discovery.
For The Brands That Will Win
This is a defining moment. Those who adapt now will not only future-proof their visibility, but gain a competitive edge as consumer discovery shifts from browser-based search to AI-driven interactions.
Winning in this expanded landscape means making your brand visible to consumers, bots and agents—wherever and however search is occurring. AI bots and agents should be treated as a new primary audience, one that shapes the experience for consumers.
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