Summary of how to win in the new AI search era

The new front door of the internet

According to research from McKinsey in its report New front door to the internet: Winning in the age of AI search , nearly 40 percent of consumers now start their discovery journey with an AI assistant instead of a search engine. This makes answer engines the new digital gateway.

Google's own Search documentation reiterates that AI Overviews will become a primary interface for many queries. This acceleration has created a new competitive environment where visibility is determined by which brands are trusted by AI systems, not simply how well they rank on SERPs.

Why traditional SEO alone is no longer enough

For two decades, SEO revolved around ranking on Google. But AI search works differently. LLMs recombine knowledge from thousands of sources rather than “rank pages”. They rely on entities, structured facts, semantic patterns and brand authority.

According to Semrush research published in 2024 (https://www.semrush.com/blog/ai-search-study/), large language models lean heavily on trusted web data, third-party citations, and high-authority entities. This means optimising only your website is no longer sufficient.

Modern discovery now depends on:

• the clarity of information about your business across the whole web

• how often your brand appears in authoritative datasets

• whether models recognise you as an entity with expertise

• the consistency of facts LLMs can retrieve about you

Put simply: AI search rewards brands that are understood, not just indexed.

The shift from keywords to entities

One of the biggest changes in AI SEO optimisation is the rise of entity-focused ranking. Google introduced entity-based understanding years ago with its Knowledge Graph, but LLMs amplify this concept exponentially.

The future of discoverability will rely less on keywords and more on machine-interpretable entity relationships.

This means:

• AI doesn’t care about keyword density.

• AI cares whether your brand is the most authoritative “answer” for a topic.

• AI rewards sources that are heavily cross-referenced across the web.

For companies losing traffic to AI Overviews, this explains the decline: the web may recognise your website, but the AI ecosystem may not recognise your entity.

The four pillars of AI SEO

1. AI Visibility Optimisation

This is the process of understanding how often your brand appears in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot and Gemini when users search for your category.

AI Visibility Audits help you:

• identify missing citations

• understand competitors gaining AI real estate

• track visibility shifts as model updates roll out

2. Entity and Authority Building

According to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines, expertise and trustworthiness remain core signals. But in AI search, they matter even more.

To build entity authority:

• Ensure consistent brand facts across directories, press, LinkedIn, Wikipedia-like sources, industry listings and data aggregators.

• Publish expert-driven content backed by reputable references.

• Be quoted or referenced by credible third-party publishers.

3. GEO Content Structuring

Generative engine optimisation ensures your content aligns with how LLMs interpret and reuse information. Research by HubSpot in 2024 shows that structured, concise and semantically rich content is significantly more likely to be surfaced by AI systems.

This means:

• clear headers and definitions

• FAQ sections

• concise expert summaries

• fact-based, citation-rich writing

• sections explicitly answering “what”, “why”, “how”

4. Continuous AI Search Testing and Monitoring

Models change weekly. Answers change daily. Your visibility can drop overnight.

According to Pew Research, more than 50 percent of consumers now trust AI summaries as much as traditional search results. This makes continuous monitoring essential for protecting your digital presence.

Real brands are already losing traffic to AI

Adobe’s 2024 Digital Trends report notes that brands across industries are reporting 15–40 percent declines in organic search traffic because AI answers are fulfilling user intent without requiring a click.

This is happening because:

• AI assistants summarise answers directly

• AI Overviews occupy the top of Google

• Perplexity provides rich answers with citations

• Bing Copilot gives direct solutions without SERP navigation

Recovery requires reentering the information streams AI models rely on.

How to recover traffic lost to AI

Recovering traffic involves shifting from page-level optimisation to ecosystem-level optimisation. This includes:

• updating structured data

• improving third-party citations

• adding expert commentary

• building thought-leadership content AI can quote

• strengthening your presence on authoritative sites related to your category

Brands that do this well often see significant improvements in their AI answer inclusion.

How indexLab helps brands win in AI search

indexLab specialises in AI Visibility Audits and generative engine optimisation. We help brands:

• become visible in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity

• recover traffic lost to AI Overviews

• strengthen entity authority

• build content optimised for AI search

• secure expert citations across trusted sources

Our frameworks are built specifically for the age of answer engines rather than SERPs.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is generative engine optimisation?

Generative engine optimisation is the practice of improving a brand’s visibility inside AI-generated answers across systems like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

2. How is AI SEO different from traditional SEO?

AI SEO focuses on entity authority, structured facts, citations and semantic clarity, while traditional SEO focuses on ranking pages for keywords.

3. How long does it take to improve AI Visibility?

Most brands see measurable improvements in 30–90 days once entity signals, citations and content structures are optimised.

Conclusion

Winning in the new era of AI search requires more than traditional SEO. It demands a shift toward generative engine optimisation, entity authority, structured content and consistent monitoring across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.

Brands that strengthen their AI Visibility, improve citations, and build machine-readable expertise are the ones AI systems will recommend most often. The businesses that act now will gain the strongest position in the new discovery landscape.

👉 Book your AI Visibility Audit with IndexLab today and make sure your brand isn’t invisible in the age of AI search