Why Do 90% of Businesses Fear Losing SEO Visibility?

The New Search Landscape Is Rewriting Visibility

Over the last two years, search behaviour has undergone its biggest shift since Google launched. People now “search” by asking AI tools personalised, conversational questions, from product research to problem-solving.

According to Gartner, AI chat interfaces could reduce traditional search volume by up to 25%. This aligns with what business owners already feel: traffic is filtering away from Google and flowing silently into AI answer engines.

When Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai said in 2023, “AI will impact every product cycle across every company,”; he wasn’t exaggerating, search is one of the first places businesses feel this impact.

The data behind the fear

From the Search Engine Land survey:

• 87.8% fear losing SEO visibility

• 61.2% plan to increase budgets because of AI’s impact

• 75.5% say their top priority is appearing inside AI-generated answers

• Only 14.3% prioritise being cited as a source, suggesting visibility > attribution

• 49% prefer the term “SEO for AI”

• 41% prefer “GEO” (Generative Engine Optimisation)

This shift shows a new reality: businesses don’t just want traffic. They want presence within the answer itself.

Why Traditional SEO Cannot Guarantee Visibility Anymore

Even if a business ranks #1 on Google, visibility is no longer guaranteed.

AI Overviews push organic results down

Google’s AI Overviews often appear before organic listings, meaning users may never reach the website.

ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini answer without links

Tools like ChatGPT typically summarise answers using multiple sources, often without naming or citing websites consistently.

According to Rand Fishkin, co-founder of SparkToro, “AI answers will dramatically reduce the value of traditional rankings because fewer people will click.”
(https://sparktoro.com/blog/)

AI tools rely on different signals than Google

Google’s ranking factors differ from LLM ranking signals such as:

• Entity strength

• Topical authority

• Citation in training data

• Brand consistency across the web

• Structured information formats

This is why businesses are investing in AI SEO optimisation, AI visibility audits, and consultants who specialise in Recovering Traffic Lost to AI.

What Exactly Are Businesses Afraid Of?

These fears aren’t theoretical, they’re showing up in analytics dashboards today.

The Rise of AI SEO, GEO, and AI Visibility as Strategic Priorities

Businesses are redefining SEO.

GEO becomes mainstream

GEO focuses on getting a brand mentioned, cited, or recommended inside AI-generated answers. This includes:

• Building strong entity profiles

• Structuring brand facts for LLM consumption

• Improving brand recall in AI systems

• Becoming one of the top “known answers” for your industry

AI SEO pillars emerging

These evolving pillars are becoming the new standard:

• AI visibility optimisation

• Fact-structured content

• Entity-first publishing

• Trust signals + EEAT reinforcement

• AI-ready brand positioning

• Multi-model optimisation (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity)

Counterarguments: Are Businesses Overreacting?

Some experts argue the fear is exaggerated.

1: AI still cites many sources

For certain topics, AI Overviews link generously to websites.
But the trend is inconsistent and varies by query.

2: Commercial queries still drive clicks

Transactional searches (e.g., “best tool”, “buy X”) still send traffic to websites.

3: Quality content always wins

This argument claims that good content will always be surfaced.
But AI surfacing ≠ website traffic.

4: Search engines need publishers

Publishers argue that if AI cannibalises all traffic, the ecosystem collapses.
Even Barry Schwartz noted in Search Engine Roundtable (https://www.seroundtable.com/) that AI systems need fresh content to stay accurate.

How Businesses Can Protect Their SEO Visibility in the AI Era

Below is a strategic framework businesses are turning to:

1. Conduct an AI Visibility Audit

To understand:

• How AI models describe your brand

• Whether you appear in answer engines

• What facts are pulled about you

• Which competitors appear in recommendations

2. Strengthen your entity

Improve signals that LLMs rely on:

• Consistent brand facts

• Strong About pages

• Author bios

• Structured data

• Unifying brand knowledge across platforms

3. Optimise for multi-model search

Each model optimises differently:

• ChatGPT favours authoritative entities

• Perplexity favours citation-rich content

• Gemini favours Google Knowledge Graph alignment

4. Create AI-ready content

Content must be:

• Fact-dense

• Structured

• Query-mapped

• Contextually rich

• Designed to be summarised by LLMs

5. Pursue “Get Cited by ChatGPT” strategies

With:

• High-authority mentions

• Verified data points

• Strong external references

• Clear product positioning

• Third-party credibility

This is where agencies like indexLab specialise, engineering brand visibility inside AI systems, not just Google.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are businesses losing SEO visibility in the age of AI?

Because AI tools answer user queries directly, reducing clicks and making it harder for brands to appear or be cited in results.

2. How can companies improve visibility in AI-generated answers?

By strengthening entities, structuring brand facts, and using AI SEO strategies like GEO and AI visibility optimisation.

3. Will traditional SEO still matter as AI search grows?

Yes, but it’s no longer enough on its own. Traditional SEO must work alongside AI SEO and generative engine optimisation to maintain visibility.

Conclusion

Businesses fear losing SEO visibility because AI is changing the very definition of being “found.” With AI delivering direct answers, fewer clicks, unpredictable citations, and shifting visibility signals, companies worry about disappearing from the places customers research and make decisions.

This is why AI visibility optimisation, GEO, and AI SEO pillars are becoming essential, not optional. The businesses who adapt now will become the trusted answers inside AI systems. The ones who don’t risk losing visibility altogether.

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