What is AI search and how is it changing the way customers find you?
What is AI search? AI search is search where an AI assistant composes the answer, rather than showing you a list of links to click. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity a question and it writes a direct response, naming the businesses it trusts, while Google's AI Overviews do the same thing at the top of the results page. For customers, search has changed from browsing ten blue links to reading one answer. For businesses, that changes where you need to be seen.
How AI search works
When a customer asks an AI assistant a question, the model draws on the sources it trusts: websites, reviews, directories and structured data. It then composes an answer and decides which businesses are worth naming. The businesses it names get the enquiry. The ones it does not name are invisible, even if they rank well in a traditional search.
There are two main forms today. Standalone assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity answer in a conversation. Google's AI Overviews appear inside the normal results page, above the links, summarising an answer with sources attached. Both change the same thing: the customer no longer has to click through to decide, because the assistant has already decided for them.
How customer discovery is changing
Being found no longer means being near the top of a results page. It means being cited. A customer who would once have typed "accountant near me" and compared three firms now asks an assistant directly which firm is best. If your business is not in the answer, the enquiry goes elsewhere, no matter how strong your rankings are.
That is why businesses now talk about being visible in AI search as well as in Google search. The two are not separate worlds. AI assistants draw on the same crawled web that Google indexes, so the fundamentals still matter: clear pages, accurate information, good reviews and consistent business details across the web. Our guide to generative engine optimisation explains how this differs from classic SEO and how the two work together: https://victory.digital/what-is-generative-engine-optimisation-geo
What you can do about it
The work that makes you citable is mostly the work you should be doing anyway. Answer the questions your customers actually ask, in plain language, early on the page. Use structured data so the models can read your products, services and FAQs accurately. Keep your name, address and phone number consistent everywhere you appear, and encourage genuine reviews, because assistants weigh third-party opinion heavily. We cover the practical steps in our guide to appearing in AI Overviews: https://victory.digital/how-to-get-your-business-to-appear-in-ai-overviews
The same content and technical foundations that grow organic search performance are the ones AI systems rely on. When we rebuilt the content and structure for Home Instead, organic traffic grew by 251%. AI models do not invent their answers; they cite what exists, so a site worth recommending in search is a site worth recommending to an assistant.
How you measure it
AI visibility is measurable. Our in-house platform Metrona tracks where your business appears in the answers given by ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, alongside traditional rank tracking, so you can see whether the work is landing in both worlds: https://victory.digital/metrona
If you want your business to be the one AI assistants recommend, our AI digital marketing service plans, builds and measures exactly that. See how it works at https://victory.digital/ai-digital-marketing
What are your Feelings?
Share your reaction
Click a reaction to share how useful this article was.