AI search visibility will become essential for UK small businesses to be aware of – and capitalise on the opportunities to be more visible than competitors.
The way people search online is changing fast. AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity are replacing traditional search engines for many queries.
While Google still dominates in overall traffic, more people are starting their research with AI tools that provide immediate answers. This is especially true for research-heavy queries or product and service comparisons.
For UK small businesses, this shift is both a threat and an opportunity.
The threat is losing visibility to AI summaries that do not link back to your website.
The opportunity is to gain visibility by being cited as a source within those AI answers.
Here’s what I cover on this page:
If your potential customers are not clicking through to your website as much as they were, you need to know why – and how to fix it to stay ahead of your competitors.
As at October 2025, ChatGPT hit 800 million weekly users worldwide, doubling from just a few months earlier. It handles over a billion queries per day, and few would deny that this kind of volume shows a clear shift – people are turning to AI for information instead of only relying on Google.
In the UK, there are 30 million weekly users – up from 10 million at the end of 2024. Compare that to the current population of the UK and you’ve got 43% of the UK’s total population who are regular users.
Google processes over 15 billion searches per day, and while that remains massive, internal traffic is being cannibalised by its own AI features. Google’s AI Overviews (AIO), powered by Gemini, were triggered by 20% of all queries by May 2025 (last data available at this time). Add to that those that use AI Mode in Google to search, and you’re seeing significant changes in how people search.
This AI integration is changing what shows up on the screen. Users now see AI-generated answers at the top of the page, which, for most searchers, is all they need. As a result, fewer are clicking on the blue links below – even when those are relevant websites.
In the UK, AI search (as opposed to general AI usage) growth has been particularly rapid. AI search accounted for just 0.07% of UK internet traffic in early 2025, but that figure tripled to 0.23% by September 2025. The percentages may look extremely low, but their growth rate shows that search patterns are changing.
ChatGPT is still the heavyweight. As of late 2025, it handles over 1 billion daily queries, with 800 million weekly active users. It holds a dominant 74.7% market share of generative AI chatbot usage.
However, others are gaining ground:
Each platform serves a slightly different purpose:
Importantly, Perplexity users spend over 9 minutes on average reading the source pages it references. That shows deep engagement, and if your site is cited, those are visitors with strong intent.
Perplexity also shows strong UK relevance. It holds 10.25% of AI traffic share within the UK.
Right now, Google’s AI Overviews appear for around 13% of searches. But that number is climbing rapidly and there is a strong possibility that Google could eventually shift the default search experience to its AI Mode.
This would represent a huge shift in how people interact with search. Instead of seeing a familiar list of blue links, users would be presented with a full AI-generated response – much like they see in ChatGPT or Perplexity.
That would make AI search the default behaviour for over 15 billion searches per day, including UK searchers within that.
For businesses, this would be a seismic change for these reasons:
It would not matter how well-optimised your site is if it does not get cited in AI Mode responses. The only thing that would matter is whether the AI thinks your content is trustworthy, well-structured, and useful enough to include in its answer.
This is the moment to prepare. Not next year. Now.
Most business owners still think in terms of Google rankings. That is understandable because for years, if you were not on page one, you might as well not exist.
But AI search tools are not directly ranking pages – they are summarising information and sometimes giving just one or two citations. There is no page one. There is only the answer.
If your business is not named amongst the answers, you lose the chance to be discovered. Worse, your competitors might be getting all the visibility for the information and services/products that you also provide.
The old SEO rules do not apply in the same way. You could have a perfectly optimised page that gets no traffic, simply because the AI tool gives users the information they wanted – without showing your website at all.
This is the new game. It is not about ranking first. It is about being cited.
And this game is happening within the most commercially relevant space. Data shows that 88.1% of Google AI Overviews are triggered for informational queries. These are the kinds of searches that influence decision-making.
If your business cannot be found in those AI answers, you are not part of the buying journey anymore.
To be included in AI-generated answers, your content needs to:
Platforms like Perplexity tend to prefer websites that show local relevance. If your website includes UK-specific examples or domain endings (like .co.uk), you are more likely to be included in UK-focused answers. A 2025 analysis of Perplexity’s citations revealed that each answer included exactly five sources. That is a small pool, and getting included requires quality and clarity.
Content must also be updated regularly. AI tools are becoming better at identifying freshness and will favour websites that are maintained and active.
This is not a one-and-done exercise. It requires consistent effort.
Here are practical steps you can take:
This is not traditional SEO. Think of it as AI Search Optimisation (ASO) but try not to get carried away with the numerous acronyms that are flying around. Ultimately, search visibility overall matters more than what it’s named.
Let us say someone searches for “best acoustic panels for home recording”. In 2023, they might have scrolled through Google and visited several websites.
In 2025, they ask ChatGPT or Perplexity the same thing. The AI gives them a list of 3-4 brands and often website links. If you are not one of them, you are out.
Now imagine if Google switches to AI Mode as the default for all searches. That same outcome becomes the standard experience across 15 billion daily queries.
You will not even know that you missed out, because the user never came to your site.
This is the silent killer of web traffic – and it is already happening.
If you are not adapting to this shift, your future customers will never see you, no matter how good your offer is.
Think about what potential customers may be searching for specifically.
For example, ‘ISO consultants experienced in the aerospace sector’ instead of ‘ISO consultants’.
Enter those search phrases into ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity.
See what appears in the search results.
If you’re visible and getting clicks to your website, then great (your analytics will show you if you’re getting those clicks).
If your AI search visibility is poor then it’ll be time to get help.
Feel free to contact me for some free initial advice.
But if not me, whoever you do decide to consult with, just make sure you have set clear expectations before parting with money for services. There are (unfortunately) many who promise the world and deliver little. You should have a specific product or service (that you want more sales of) in mind to start with and then challenge a potential supplier of services with supplying you with a written description of how they guarantee you more visibility. And then put their reply into ChatGPT and ask it: