The way people are searching for services and products is shifting fast to using AI tools outside and within Google. Some will adapt quickly, most won’t.
If your business appears in the results, then great.
If you’re not as prominent as you want to be, but others are, read on …
If you don’t have time to read through this whole article, here are four steps to help you benefit from it without having to read it all initially …
For many small business owners in the UK, online visibility has long been tied to one familiar concept: SEO.
Ranking high on Google, targeting keywords, and writing blog content has been the go-to strategy for years.
But that landscape is changing fast.
What’s happening right now isn’t just another Google algorithm tweak -it’s a fundamental shift in how people search – and how businesses need to respond.
Traditional SEO is giving way to something far broader: AI Search Optimisation (AIO) or Large Language Model Optimisation (LLMO).
In english: being visible in ways much wider than Google.
If your business is still thinking in terms of keywords and Google rankings alone, it may already be falling behind.
For years, SEO strategy was clear:
But here’s the reality: that model is losing traction.
Today, people are increasingly using AI platforms to ask complex, multi-layered questions – and are getting direct answers without ever clicking through to a website.
Tools like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are delivering answers in the search results themselves. This rise in zero-click searches (people getting the answers without having to click to a website) means fewer visits to traditional blog content.
That may sound worrying, but many of the blog visits you may have be losing were from people just doing research – not people ready to buy. So, if you’re seeing fewer visits, but better-quality ones that lead to enquiries, you’re not necessarily worse off.
This is all about repositioning so that, even though your website visits may be lower, the quality is higher.
AI-driven search isn’t about links and rankings. It’s about presence and relevance in conversational answers.
When people ask AI platforms questions like:
… the AI doesn’t return a list of 10 links like Google would (with the option to click to more pages of results). It instead crafts a response that may mention your business by name, but only if the data is available, structured, and compelling.
What this means is that the definition of SEO is changing from Search Engine Optimisation to Search Everywhere Optimisation.
This era of search everywhere visibility includes:
If you’re not showing up across these ecosystems, you’re less visible to AI.
You could be now thinking: are you saying that I need to be visible on all those different platforms?
The answer is yes AND no …
You might see fewer overall clicks from Google – but those who do click from within the AI overviews (and, when it releases in the UK in 2025, AI Mode) will be more qualified and closer to taking action.
Some businesses are already seeing:
In short: it’s not about more traffic to your website – it’s about better quality traffic.
Here’s how to prepare your small business for the AI-driven future of search …
Focus on:
That’s content AI can’t easily replicate – and it’s more likely to be included in AI-generated answers.
Example: if you sell widgets and have deep insights into how they can be configured for the aerospace sector, and have many examples of clients that have done that, then write about it. Such niche content may have niche numbers of people doing AI searches around it but those who do will be wanting to click through to your website – especially if you are the top AI answer in the results.
Write how your customers talk. Use natural language, FAQs, and answer-style formats.
Make sure:
The days of relying on Google alone are over. You need to build presence on:
Those are often the sources AI models pull from – especially for more current or visually-led content.
People will often do AI searches using phrases that include similar to: that have good reviews.
When you search AI systems (ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.) for keywords related to your business, and include ‘that have good reviews’ in your search phrase, look out for the sources shown for each result.
You will typically find that they include:
In some cases you may decide that it’s worth paying for visibility in places that are being given priority in AI search results.
Don’t chase generic traffic.
Build content that:
Move away from just measuring traffic or impressions. Instead:
Example: someone searches for ‘web developers Maidstone’ and clicks through but realises they wanted to see websites with pricing on them, but your website doesn’t have that. So those people go back to the AI search and update their search to be more specific (and you wouldn’t then get the clicks because you don’t include pricing).
Strong clicks to landing pages (from AI or otherwise) but weak conversions is something I specialise in identifying the reasons why (and what to do about it, so please do contact me for some free insights).
AI doesn’t just level the playing field – it tilts it in your favour. Small businesses can now:
Early adopters will win, and in 2025, it’s still all in the formative stages so the opportunities are there for everyone.
Search, as we know it, is being reinvented. Those who cling to the past will see diminishing returns.
Those who adapt will not only stay relevant – they’ll grow faster, convert better, and outperform competitors who are too slow to evolve.
Your customers are talking to AI platforms today.
Spend some time seeing if those platforms mention you when you type search phrases that your future customers may be using.
If you’re stuck on this, feel free to pick my brains.