Published: 16/06/2025 By Elliott Rowland
AI’s rapid rise has led to the logical questioning of whether it will replace traditional organic search as the primary way people search for information & services, and if so, how to adapt your website to this change.I’ve spoken to many people who have assured me that “Google is dead.” Another confidently declared that “everyone in my generation just uses ChatGPT to find information so SEO is pointless.”
I’m always wary of such absolute declarations. Often the truth can be found in the shades of grey rather than the binary black and white. As with everything, context is key to understanding the future of search and exactly what you can do to adapt to it, but without doubt the landscape is changing and businesses need to adapt their websites with it.
A shifting landscape
How people search is changing, of that there can be no doubt. This shift is largely broken down into two parts:Generational
eMarketer reports that Gen z is 25% less likely to use Google for search compared to Gen X, and 46% favour social media over traditional search engines.Millenials are more likely to use a mix of sources; Google for factual search, ChatGPT for summaries, and other sources for certain purchasing decisions.
Whilst older generations still trust traditional search engines the most, tools like Gemini and Copilot are gaining ground, especially for tasks like trip planning, health research and product reviews.
Behavioural
Behaviour of search across the board is shifting from just “searching” to “asking” and from clicking specific sources to scanning summaries.Hybrid search, which blends traditional web indexing with generative AI is fast becoming the norm. Google itself isn’t “traditional” anymore. Google is adapting to this changing landscape by using it’s AI overview for a range of queries. Quite frankly, it’s also been using basic AI or at least mass data patterns through it’s “people also ask” feature since 2015.
So we can conclude without a doubt that it’s not just AI that is chipping away at Google search dominance, but a broader generational shift in where people get their information. This, combined with a shift in how people search, has changed the way businesses need to present the relevant information to their audience.
What does this mean?
Firstly, it means that it isn’t just AI challenging Google’s dominance. The source of search is becoming more fragmented, so you need to adapt your business to ensure you are on the platforms relevant to your target audience.However, be wary of broad brush strokes influencing your decision making and assuming this change in behaviour means you need to rip up the rulebook and start doing everything differently. Context is still as important as ever.
Understand your audience, who they are, where they are, and what they want to do.
Yes, Gen Z might not use Google as much, but if that’s not your target audience this shift is largely anecdotal. Similarly, your business might cater to older generations, but to simply subscribe to the stereotype that this means your audience is sheltered from this change would be folly.The marketing principle of knowing your target market and targeting them appropriately remains as relevant as ever. It might mean you need to sharpen your research on where your target market is and ensure you have the relevant platforms covered, but the principle is the same as it’s always been; who are my target market, where can they be found, and how do I connect with them?
Understand how your content needs to adapt to people asking and not just searching
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) means optimising your website content to ensure the relevant pages of your website rank highly in keyword searches relevant to your business.AI has ushered in an age of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). This is the process of optimising your content to be effectively used and cited by AI powered search and generative models. It’s focus is more on how your website content can be understood and summarized by AI. In essence, how well AI can understand and then present your website content when someone asks it a question.
It’s easy to get lost in the technical jargon and your initial reaction might be that this is simply yet another thing to try and understand. Whilst there are specific tactics and advise you can employ in regards to GEO just as there is with SEO, it’s easy to forget the human element in all of this.
Fundamentally, GEO is about helping AI to understand your website content, but is this really vastly different from helping your human audience to understand your business and your product through your website? Your website marketing has always been about driving traffic to your website and then converting those that arrive there into leads through the layout and content. The conversion element has always been as important as the traffic.
Ultimately a human will land on your website and make a transactional decision on whether to enquire or not. The principle of writing good quality, clear content hasn't changed. It remains as core a principle as it has always has as the same clarity is needed for both AI and your human audience alike.
Understand that AI and Google aren’t separate
AI and Google aren’t different, they’re fused. AI is contained within Google search, so this isn’t an arms race between one or the other. Your focus shouldn't be on deciding between them, but understanding the wider shift in user behaviour and how best to write and frame your website content accordingly.Google’s power comes from finding web content. AI does the same. How it finds that content and how it presents it may differ, but fundamentally they’re searching the same sources of information to present to the end user.
They’re not separate entities, but different sides of the same coin. It’s about adapting your web content for both AND remembering that despite it all, a human will need to make a transactional decision as they always have.
Luckily, the principles behind SEO, GEO and lead conversion have comparative elements which makes writing your website content easier. The most effective strategy, particularly for SMEs who need to streamline and optimise their efforts, is to focus on the elements which overlap across all three:
- Structured data. Clear, well-structured data in terms of meta tags, window titles, titles and sub titles has been a staple of SEO for years. But this clarity is not only good for keyword search terms, but also offers clarity and clear guidance for both AI and your end users in terms of finding and summarising your key content.
- Natural language processing (NLP). We could get complicated here, but in essence, speak like a human. Tell people clearly what you do, how you can help them and why they should use you. It makes it easy for search engines to find the relevant keywords whilst helping LLM’s (large language models ) and humans understand what you do
- Original , valuable content. SEO has already prioritised original source material and penalised plagiarism. AI is no different. Experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness are as valued by LLMs as by search engines. Concentrate on sharing your unique insights and value add as a business and demonstrate this in how you write your website content.
- Answering questions. Whether it’s SEO, AI or your human audience, they have questions about your business and your website should answer them clearly. Understanding your customers problems and explaining how you solve them in your website content is paramount. Want a more literal tip? FAQs. They’ve always been a great way to summarise website content, but literally adding FAQs to your website is going to help you structure those questions and answers
- Regular updates. Don’t let your website become stale. Posting regular updates and information is vital to showing your expertise and authority. Blogging is the easiest way to add fresh new website content regularly, but continue to review and adapt your website page content periodically
In Conclusion
Google search isn’t disappearing, it’s adapting. It’s not a binary choice of search engines Vs AI, they are intrinsically linked.As a business, you should adapt your website to accommodate this evolution, but be wary of a complete revolution. Turning your back on SEO would be lead generation suicide; Google still handles an estimated 8.5 billion searches a day and is still the dominant force in search.
Rather, concentrate on adapting your website strategy to accommodate both traditional search engines and AI, whilst remembering the human connection to your business. Focus on the overlap between SEO, GEO and lead conversion to maximise the return on your efforts and remember some of the traditional principles which have always driven your digital marketing. Namely, who is my target audience, where can they be found, and how do I communicate my product clearly to them?
Remembering these fundamentals remains as relevant as ever and provides the best foundation for your website strategy.
*AI was not used in the writing of this blog. It was used to generate our whimsical leading image!