The search landscape is undergoing a significant transformation driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). Gartner’s report highlights how Generative AI, evolving consumer behaviour, and the rise of e-commerce and social search platforms are changing the way people find information and make purchasing decisions. With over 90% of global searches happening on Google, this shift has major implications for businesses that rely on organic search traffic. The predicted 50% decrease in organic traffic, the increasing dominance of AI-driven search engines, and the rise of alternative search platforms mean brands must adapt quickly to protect their visibility, traffic, leads, and conversions.
This article explores how brands can prepare for these changes, optimise their content for AI-driven search, and adapt to the evolving search ecosystem.
1. The Changing Search Landscape
Search engines have long been the gateway for consumers to find information, products, and services. For years, Google has dominated with over 90% of global search traffic. However, search is evolving due to the rapid adoption of AI technologies such as Generative AI and the growing influence of social media and e-commerce platforms.
Key trends identified in Gartner's report include:
Organic traffic decline: Organic search traffic is predicted to decrease by 50% as AI-driven search engines increasingly prioritise direct answers and overviews instead of traditional blue links to third-party websites.
Generative AI search growth: Generative AI platforms provide instant, summarised information, reducing the need for users to click on external sites. This limits the visibility of brands relying on organic search traffic.
E-commerce and social search expansion: Platforms like Amazon, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are growing as research and discovery tools. Amazon, for instance, is now the third-largest online advertising business, after Google and Meta, and 61% of consumers use it to research products.
These trends indicate that businesses must rethink their reliance on traditional search engines and embrace a multi-channel search strategy.
2. The Impact of Generative AI on Search
Generative AI technology has fundamentally altered how search works. Unlike traditional search engines, which display results as clickable links, Generative AI platforms summarise information and present it directly within the interface. This means:
Loss of organic traffic: As users receive answers without leaving the search platform, there is less opportunity for them to visit your website. This change could severely impact businesses that depend on organic search for leads and conversions.
Shift in consumer behaviour: With more users getting immediate answers from AI overviews, fewer are relying on blue links, making it harder for brands to draw traffic through traditional SEO methods.
For brands, this means adapting their content and SEO strategies to remain visible in AI-powered search environments.
3. Protecting Your Brand in a Changing Search Environment
To safeguard against the decline in organic traffic and adapt to AI-driven search, businesses must take proactive steps:
Optimise for natural language queries: As AI engines focus on understanding and answering natural language questions, brands must adapt their content to reflect these conversational search patterns.
Create a single content repository: Centralising all brand content into a single repository ensures consistency and accessibility. This also helps maintain data hygiene, as ongoing updates and quality control are vital for maintaining visibility in AI-driven search results.
High-quality branded content: AI platforms prioritise authoritative and trustworthy content. Brands must invest in creating high-quality, informative content that is aligned with the brand's identity. This can include short-form informational videos, which are gaining traction as they cater to natural language queries on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Adopt SEO for AI: Websites, landing pages, and all online content must be optimised for AI-driven search engines, which prioritise contextually relevant, conversational content over keyword-stuffed pages.
4. The Growing Role of E-commerce and Social Search
Amazon, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are emerging as key players in the search landscape. Consumers are increasingly using these platforms to research products and services:
Amazon as a search engine: With 61% of consumers using Amazon for product research, and the platform’s integration of Generative AI, it has become a formidable competitor in search. Amazon’s position as the third-largest online advertising business underscores the growing importance of e-commerce search.
Social media search: A Gartner survey reveals that 49% of consumers use social media to research products and services. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are especially effective at engaging users with short-form videos and influencer-driven content. These platforms are now direct competitors to traditional search engines like Google.
For brands, this shift requires investment in creating engaging content for social and e-commerce platforms that can cater to product research and discovery needs.
5. The Need for Content and Data Adaptation
As Generative AI and social searches continue to rise, brands will need to adapt by:
Developing branded content plans: High-quality, branded content is crucial for maintaining visibility in AI-driven search results. Brands should prioritise a strategic content plan that ensures consistent messaging and valuable information across all channels.
Data hygiene and quality control: Data quality and hygiene will become increasingly important. By centralising content and ensuring regular updates and quality checks, brands can maintain their presence in AI-driven searches.
Short-form video content: Video content, particularly short-form, is increasingly becoming the preferred medium for engaging with consumers. Brands should focus on producing concise, informative videos that address natural language queries and appear in social and e-commerce search results.
6. Preparing for the Future of Search
The cost of search advertising is rising. In 2023, the average cost per click for Google Search ads increased by 17% year on year, and this trend is expected to continue. Coupled with the decline in organic search traffic, brands must diversify their digital marketing efforts. Investing solely in SEO and SEM may no longer be enough to capture attention in a crowded, AI-driven search environment.
Brands should consider diversifying their marketing budgets and exploring other channels like Over-The-Top (OTT) media, video content, and social media marketing. With 25% of Chief Marketing Officers’ digital channel budgets currently allocated to search, the time to rethink and diversify is now.
Conclusion
The future of search is being shaped by Generative AI, the rise of e-commerce search engines like Amazon, and the growing role of social media in product research. To remain competitive, brands must adapt by optimising content for natural language queries, investing in high-quality branded content, and diversifying their marketing channels. As the search landscape evolves, those who prepare will be best positioned to capture consumer attention and maintain their visibility in an increasingly AI-driven world.
Recommendations for Action:
Begin optimising content for Generative AI search engines.
Develop a centralised content repository to manage data hygiene and consistency.
Invest in short-form video content for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Diversify marketing budgets beyond SEO and SEM to adapt to the changing search landscape.
Maintain a focus on producing high-quality branded content to improve visibility and engagement.
Brands should consider creating a single content repository for all documents within their organisation. Ongoing data hygiene will need to be a priority managed by a single team.
By taking these steps, brands can navigate the future of search and ensure continued growth in an evolving digital environment.
Comments