We’re witnessing a shift in the search landscape — one marking the future as generative and conversational.
While Google continues to expand AI Overviews, the search giant also started the global rollout of AI Mode, a transformational feature that replaces the “ten blue links” with an AI-only search experience.
With these changes in search and consumer behavior, content marketing is no longer just about ranking for keywords. Earning trust and visibility are more important than ever.
By creating authoritative content optimized for generative AI systems, brands can maintain relevance, influence purchase decisions, and improve performance in a radically new search environment.
How Generative AI Has Changed Search Behavior
In the traditional search journey, users visited multiple websites to research and compare options before making a decision. That process gave brands several opportunities to connect with consumers during their journey within Google’s organic results.
Today’s AI-led search journey looks very different. AI Overviews now take up prime real estate at the top of organic search results, pushing down traditional search results. Users are getting quick, synthesized answers without needing to click through to individual websites. As a result, consumer behavior is changing: Click-through rates on Google results are dropping, and organic traffic across the board is on the decline.
Despite these changes, the user journey remains connected and layered. It’s more important than ever to think strategically about how each touchpoint fits into a seamless experience. AI has changed the steps, but not the need to guide consumers thoughtfully from discovery to decision.
Consumers Are Adopting Alternative Search Platforms
With tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, users get high-level answers almost instantly, often completing entire search journeys without ever leaving a single platform. With AI Mode, Google is also betting on the widespread adoption of conversational search platforms over the traditional experience.
AI has already redefined search for us. If these trends continue — and I believe they will — the result will be a redefinition of what search means. And brand marketers will need to redefine the strategies they use to reach and influence consumers.
Success now means moving beyond ranking for individual keywords. It’s about focusing on building authoritative, high-quality content that can inform AI-generated summaries, earn trust in zero-click environments, and drive action when users do choose to engage.
How Does Gen AI Prioritize Content?
The first step to adapting to this new environment is understanding how emerging AI systems evaluate and surface information. A recent Terakeet study analyzing keywords impacted by AI Overviews (AIO) across multiple industries revealed clear patterns in the types of content large language models (LLMs) prioritize.
Structured content with strong topical depth consistently ranks higher in generative search responses, likely because it helps AI systems understand and summarize information. In other words, well-organized, in-depth content increases a brand’s chances of being referenced in AI-generated answers.
The study also found that originality, authority, and freshness are critical factors in earning citations within AIO answers. Regularly updated content that offers a unique perspective, is backed by credible sources, and is regularly updated is far more likely to appear in generative search experiences.
For content marketers, these aren’t entirely new rules; rather, they represent an evolution of long-standing best practices. The difference is that these fundamentals no longer just improve organic rankings. They’re essential for visibility and influence in an AI-first search landscape.
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How To Improve Content Visibility
To stay ahead of shifting search trends and evolving consumer behavior, brands can implement these key takeaways into their content strategies.
1. Optimize for AIO Visibility
Google made it clear at this year’s I/O event: AI Overviews will continue to grow in prominence as a core feature of the organic search experience.
To increase visibility in AIOs, brands should begin by strengthening authority signals. We can look at Google’s traditional tenets of E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
These elements appeal to human readers and help AI models determine which sources are credible enough to cite. Although AIOs are causing a drop in overall clicks, our research indicates that being cited or included in an AIO results in more traffic when compared to the top 10 results.
Beyond E-E-A-T, content that showcases original thinking tends to stand out in generative results. Brands should prioritize publishing proprietary data, expert commentary, unique perspectives, and case studies.
2. Refresh and Expand Topic Clusters
To maintain visibility in evolving search environments, brands should regularly audit and expand their content clusters. A good place to begin is identifying gaps in coverage: Are there subtopics, related questions, or emerging trends within the cluster that haven’t been addressed?
Filling these gaps not only strengthens topical authority but also increases the likelihood of content being featured in AI-generated summaries.
Additionally, continuing to execute strategic internal linking between related pieces helps both users and AI models understand the depth and structure of your content, signaling that your site is a credible, comprehensive resource on the topic.
3. Improve Bottom-of-Funnel Optimization
It’s true that consumers are clicking through to websites less often at the start of their research. However, conversions have not dropped off, and optimizing pages designed to convert high-intent users remains just as critical, if not more so.
Regularly review and update your top-performing decision-phase content to ensure it remains current, accurate, and aligned with consumer expectations. This includes refreshing product details, pricing, reviews, testimonials, and any relevant case studies or success stories. These elements build trust and reduce friction at the point of purchase.
4. Revisit Your KPIs
It’s essential to revisit and update your key performance indicators (KPIs) to align with AI-driven search. While traditional metrics like rankings, clicks, and overall traffic still matter, brands need to elevate visibility metrics like mentions and impressions.
Tracking sentiment, favorability, and reputation is crucial, as inaccurate or negative narratives in AI-generated content can pose significant risks. Altogether, these indicators reveal how often your content is being surfaced in generative search results, even if users don’t click through immediately.
Finally, as large language models (LLMs) increasingly refer users to trusted sources, tracking referral traffic originating from these AI platforms will provide deeper insight into your content’s influence in the new search ecosystem.
Don’t Abandon Content—Evolve It
Generative platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini are reshaping the search experience, creating new kinds of search engine results pages that move beyond traditional blue links. But content, especially the content assets you own and control, will always be an important marketing investment.
Content marketers just have to meet users where they are today: engaging with AI-generated summaries, branded search results, and critical decision-stage interactions.
While measurement frameworks are still being developed, meaningful engagement is already occurring. The best way to prepare is by creating semantically clear and valuable content that’s designed to be easily understood by both AI and human beings.
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