3 ways to transcend AI’s takeover of search

In the disorienting early weeks of the AI boom, we asked ChatGPT how AI platforms would evolve. One quiet line in the chatbot’s response now reads like a calm-before-the-storm prediction for search marketers: “It’s likely that GPT-like models will be used in question answering.” A couple short years later, the storm is here — and it’s picking up.

AI-powered “answer engines” are replacing traditional search engines like Google and Bing.

Artificial intelligence is evolving how brands reach and connect with their audiences. (It’s one reason we created Antho Labs, a digital playground to test tools, ask questions and explore opportunities with new tech.) In search engine optimization (SEO), the emergence of AI answer engine platforms has marketers seeking ways to offset the decline of organic search — a channel brands have long relied on to help buyers discover, engage and convert.

Let’s talk about what’s going down in search — and what your brand can do about it.

How AI Answer Engines Are Reshaping Search

Since that early 2023 Q&A with ChatGPT, the search landscape has changed dramatically with the rise of AI platforms like ChatGPT search, Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot with built-in Bing, and Perplexity.

These platforms collect, compare, summarize and cite web content natively — no search (and often no click) necessary.

Answer engines deliver fast, neatly summarized answers without requiring buyers to scan, scroll or click through pages of links. In conversational interfaces, users can refine questions and ask follow-ups — all without leaving the platform.

The speed, ease and utility of zero-click answer engine experiences are reshaping how people find and interact with content on the web.

Buyers are increasingly trusting AI answers — and competition for limited AI citations is intensifying as traditional rankings fade in importance. That’s why many brands we work with are seeing a clear split between organic search visibility and website traffic. In short:

• Search impressions are climbing.
• Clicks and click-through-rate (CTR) are falling.
• Fewer visits mean fewer chances to engage and convert.

As the quality of AI summarization and citation improves — and as more buyers embrace the answer engine experience — many more brands will come face to face with the same challenge.

Evolve Your Strategy for the AI Search Era

It’s tempting to respond by flooding your site with AI-generated content, hoping to bait the ravenous large language models (LLMs) under the hood of answer engines. You could chase shiny tactics like Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), even as most traditional SEO fundamentals still apply. But declining traffic isn’t a cause for panic — it’s a shift that offers the opportunity to refocus on your audience and authentic, high-value content. 

Machines may surface content, but people are the real audience — and they’re ruthless at tuning out anything that feels artificial or irrelevant. (We were already living in “The Age of Ignore” when AI exploded.) That’s why, even as algorithms evolve and search clicks decline, we recommend doubling down on authenticity.

As AI proliferates and redefines the value of organic traffic, we’re guiding clients toward a few strategic, longer-term solutions:

1. Obsess over your audience.

Understanding your audience has always been essential to a solid marketing strategy. AI makes it non-negotiable. Learn how your buyers think, talk and make decisions. (Want to know which AI platforms they use? Start by checking your website referral traffic.) Build buyer profiles and journeys that drive human-centric, integrated marketing — the kind that resonates and converts, in answer engines and beyond.

There’s no substitute for real audience research (think surveys and focus groups to uncover market, brand, customer, employee or product insights). But if resources are tight, go nimble. With expert human oversight, budding AI research tools like ChatGPT Deep Research and Google Gemini Deep Research can help accelerate the process and fill gaps in your audience knowledge.

2. Commit to truly expert content.

Content marketing has always been about harnessing your expertise to empower buyers, build trust and fuel long-term brand growth. And in the AI era, turning real expertise into useful, trustworthy and enduring content matters more than ever. As we shared in our AI philosophy post, AI + MKTG IQ>AI MKTG, content remains a potentially powerful differentiator — if it’s authentic.

AI might change how content gets delivered, but your buyers still have real problems, questions and needs. They still want valuable, credible information, and they’ll keep looking for brands that provide it across formats like text, video, images and audio. You can provide that value through multi-modal content that’s rooted in real expertise.

When the competition can create generic content in seconds, don’t let yours become part of the AI commodity clutter, passed over by both answer engines and buyers searching for real substance.

In his presentation at the 2025 Iowa Artificial Intelligence Summit for Industry at Iowa State University, Anthologic Creative Director Travis Arndorfer outlined what gives content the “fingerprints of expertise”:

• Specifics
• Contextual clarity (what + why, when and for whom)
• Bigger picture perspective and patterns
• Trade-offs and nuances
• Strong reasoned points of view
• Language of the craft

Anthologic’s take: use AI not to replace expertise, but to accelerate it. Start by recording your experts — capture how they frame challenges, their first-hand experience and what they see that others miss. Then use AI to organize, distill and shape that knowledge into content for your website, owned land where buyer actions are most measurable. From there, adapt it across formats and channels to extend the value to buyers throughout your connected experience.

Focus on becoming an authoritative source worthy of a buyer’s click, rather than another brand in a sea of AI sameness. The better your content, the more likely it is to earn real estate in answer engines, shaping buyer perceptions before they ever reach your site. And when they do get there, they’re often more educated and ready to act. Early data we’re seeing backs this up: on average, visitors arriving from a ChatGPT link are converting at nearly 2x the rate of typical site traffic.

3. Treat your database like royalty.

As AI and other algorithms erode web traffic, growing and serving your database takes on new urgency. The addressable database audience — the people who’ve chosen to hear directly from you — includes the buyers most likely to choose and champion your brand.

Build the database with intention through paid search (including emerging AI search buys), paid social, trade shows and other lead generation efforts. Then deepen the connection: use your expert content and first-party data to create thoughtful email and marketing automation programs that deliver real value.

Rolling out the red carpet for your addressable database means investing in what lasts while navigating AI’s impact on audience access. Maximizing your direct line of communication — along with loyalty and advocacy — are safe bets to carry your brand through the transformations ahead.

We can’t exactly predict where search is headed, but one thing seems certain: AI answer engines are poised to take away even more of your organic search traffic. We believe the brands that thrive won’t be the ones taking shortcuts or clinging to old playbooks. They’ll be the ones that lean into what AI can’t replicate — deep audience understanding, expert content with unmistakable human fingerprints and trusted relationships with their most valuable buyers.

These are the brands that won’t just survive the AI takeover of search — they’ll stand out in it.

Be the brand that transcends — not one that fades into the AI noise. Let’s build your content strategy for what’s next. Connect with us.