The End Of Browsing? AI Is Rewriting The Rules Of Online Visibility

Forbes

16 hours ago

Back when I was in high school, writing an academic essay was a chore. I'm talking leave-your-house-drive-to-the-library-to-search-for-citations-pain. Once, I spent an entire Saturday thumbing through books for quotes to back up my points. Later compiling that citation list in AP style was no joy either.
By the time I got to college, the web had sped the search process way up. The miracle of online databases slashed my research time. A few years after that when I worked as a journalist covering the oil industry, I could easily access multiple sources by Googling topics. By then, the tedious part had become weeding out dead-end hyperlinks—usually anything past page one of the search results.
In 2025 it's worth asking: do students or professionals search anymore? Business Insight Journal has an interesting take on this question. 'Students aren't just searching differently—they're searching elsewhere. According to Everspring's new 2025 AI Search Trends Report, prospective students increasingly turn to AI tools like ChatGPT instead of traditional search engines.'
Professionals are also increasingly using AI to deliver direct answers rather than sift through pages of results. ''I don't even use Google anymore—I just use ChatGPT,' said Ash Minhas, a Technical Content Manager at IBM in a piece from the company evocatively titled: 'Browsing Obsolete: Examining the AI Search Era.' In it, Minhas gushes about artificial intelligence's utility to 'scan and synthesize a vast amount of sources in a short amount of time.'
This remarkable shift in how we access information in such a short span reminds me of the saying: 'When one door closes, another opens.' That's because the expression 'Googling it' hasn't just lodged its way into our lexicon—it's become a way of life. Don't know something? Google it.
But in a few years hearing someone say this may sound as quaint as the AOL modem startup noise. It might become a cultural relic due to the collapse of not just traditional search but the whole Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry.
Before discussing its likely replacement, Language Model Optimization (LMO), it's time for a refresher on the previous technology. Fittingly enough, it comes from SEO.com: 'SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of improving a website's visibility in organic search results on Google and Bing, or other search engines. SEO involves researching search queries, creating helpful content, and optimizing the user experience to improve organic search rankings.'
'We're shifting from gaming Google's algorithm to engaging in real-time AI searches that respond directly to what we ask. That's the fundamental transformation unfolding right now,' said Claude Zdanow when I interviewed him to explain the impending sea change. As CEO of Onar Holding Corporation, a network of next-gen marketing and creative services agencies built to accelerate middle-market company growth via AI, he's following LMO closely.
What he's noticed is the unprecedented value it brings clients. Traditional SEO often involved manipulating search rankings through keyword stuffing or an over-reliance on backlinks. There was definite utility behind such practices for companies wishing to be found, especially over their competitors.
Unfortunately, end users didn't always find such stacked entries so helpful. LMO is now poised to disrupt this search model by operating as a kind of online oracle. 'Language Model Optimization is about creating content that's actually relevant and useful so that AI, not just a search engine, can interpret it, trust it, and serve it up as the best answer,' said Zdanow. 'It's no longer about finessing the system. It's about genuinely solving a user's problem.'
Stepping back to contextualize this development, a logical progression is afoot. Value determines if a technology becomes widely accepted. Until web-based databases arrived, the most optimal way for high school students to source their papers was to pore through physical text. Later, search engines like Google became so popular because they worked even better.
Now that LMO can accurately and efficiently deliver even more valuable answers, it's understandable that users like the Ash Minhas of the world flock to it. To grasp more of the value LMO provides, it's helpful to consult SEO Content Expert Jenny Abouobaia's LinkedIn post of the model's key prioritizations: 'Context Over Authority Signals: Unlike Google, which relies on backlinks for authority, LLMs focus on understanding the actual content.'
Once more, we're talking about relevance. 'This shift isn't just about changing tactics,' said Zdanow. 'It's about changing intent. We must stop thinking in terms of algorithms and start thinking in terms of audiences. Moving forward, the question won't be 'How do I get ranked?' but rather: 'How do I help someone?''
That insight reminds me of philosopher Yuval Harari's take on the U.S.S.R.'s downfall in his book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. 'The Soviet Union tried to run a central economy from Moscow. And it just wasn't efficient. They brought all the information to Moscow, but there was nobody there who could process all the information fast enough and efficiently enough to make the right decisions. And this is why the distributed information system of the United States proved to be far superior to the centralized information system of the Soviet Union.'
Harari's point is that America's decentralized bottom-up economy triumphed over its rival, but not through Cold War hostility. The U.S.S.R. imploded because it provided less value to its citizens. Top-down productivity collapsed alongside ideological alignment as its governance model proved incapable of meeting modern demands.
The lesson here is simple: Value trumps everything in the end. Even totalitarian regimes. Companies would do well to think in these terms when it comes to getting found online. Business owners and the marketing agencies serving them can stay ahead of the search curve by producing content that's actually useful. When in doubt, stop and ask yourself: 'Would another person find this valuable?' If so, it's more likely you will get noticed under the LMO model.
When it comes to content, the best advice I ever got was from my mom, back when I was still haunting the library to finish a paper on the Spartan phalanx: 'Be original.' In other words, share unique, non-derivative content, including stories or data AI cannot find anywhere else.
This last point has special relevance for the times we live in. As AI automates more and more of life's drudgery and rote activities, space opens up for creativity and originality to once more be in demand. Rather than decry the shifting sands of commerce and the uncertainty it inevitably brings, we would do well to appreciate the opportunity tech provides. Especially when it allows us to deliver greater value to our fellow human beings.