AI Search- what is changing for marketers and what we know so far

 

Author: Ryan Walsh

Date: 10/07/2025

AI search is becoming more and more part of Google’s search results. Previously, marketers were obsessed with improving their clients’ ranking factors; this remains a valuable task.

However, Google AI is now changing search; it’s providing a ready-made answer.

And we think in this regard, it is a bit like cooking; before, you would have to go through possibly many separate pages to piece together an answer. This is like cooking something from scratch and doing some of the work.

Well, Google AI Overviews is like a ready meal; it combines multiple pages, saving a shopper from doing the hard work and providing an answer that’s compiled and placed at the top of the page.

What should prompt any marketing company to sit up and listen is this: we don’t yet know how zero-click searches will impact businesses in the long run. Then the next part of the equation that we don’t know is this: when a source is cited in the sources as a Google AI Overview answer, how many clicks will that result get?

What Is AI Search?

How is AI search different?

Google still uses “ranking factors” to rank businesses in its results pages.

We all knew that, right?

Well, now with AI, it’s more about LLMs, or large language models, having basically a warehouse of information on everything from where the best local restaurants are, through to which companies are currently working on landing on planet Mars.

 

Advanced reasoning

Have you used ChatGPT’s O3 model yet?

We would strongly recommend giving it a try, as this LLM utilises advanced reasoning. But what it also does is show that reasoning lives in front of your eyes in a written text form, as it wrangles with whichever question you have presented it.

This means we can gain insight into how AI works.

It’s not just about an index; it’s an extensive index of websites ranked based on specific ranking factors.

AI with advanced reasoning appears to exhibit a level of cognition similar to that of a real person as we work through a problem to find a solution.

We can only presume, therefore, that Google AI will work in the same way. This means some of the most challenging questions can be worked through. Then, because of the “fan out query, with most AI models, you can now ask follow-up questions.

Understanding AI Search

This is what we know so far: as SEO experts, we have been using Google’s overarching aim as our guiding principle when optimising clients’ websites. That is, Google wants to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.

This remains the same; however, we can only presume that ranking factors, such as links, will be replaced by AI, as it uses machine learning to gather how well it is doing at answering queries. However, for the time being, that’s a presumption.

Some of the rules remain the same.

Helpful Content and E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)

Therefore, a robot can only provide an answer based on the data it has.

LLMs are just that, large language models which have read, well, the whole of the internet, we are told.

So, the point we are making is simple: businesses that publish good-quality content marketing that’s helpful to customers are bound to be cited more often. These mentions are what businesses will most likely be fighting over in the future, as some shoppers will stop right there in the SERPs, as Google will have answered their question right there, resulting in a zero-click search.

However, some people will naturally want to know more, so click the link to the author who helped form the Google AI Overview answer, and it’s there that we need to gain shoppers/visitors from.

 

Zero Click Marketing

Zero-click searches will be a growing problem

Often, Google will have listed your 10 blue links, your organic results. Shoppers who wanted to solve a problem, buy a product, or find a local company would naturally work through the results until their “search intent” was met.

Whether that was to find a local locksmith or solicitor for their upcoming divorce, there was typically some work required on the part of the shopper.

However, with zero-click searches emanating from Google, the issue of more Google AI Overview answers popping up is a problem. For us, marketing companies, we will get fewer clicks.

Not only is this a problem from a sales perspective, but it’s also a problem from a re-marketing perspective. For example, how do you get a shopper to sign up for your newsletter if they never click on your website in the first place?

Zero-click searches result when a shopper has their answer presented, right in front of them, as Google has done all the heavy lifting.

It’s mashed together an answer; it’s blended to present what can sometimes be a bespoke answer for the customer.

Therefore, marketing companies must adapt.

 

Neil Patel

Neil Patel, a well-known SEO expert, has stated that he believes AI-generated answers are usually taken from the top ten Google results.
So, this is why organic SEO and optimising a website using traditional SEO ranking factors are still important, at least for now.

 

So, what’s changed?

Well, this is the kind of strange thing; nothing has changed.

That’s because, for now, the AI answer is taken and blended with other relevant answers, and then placed at the top of Google’s results.

Therefore, organic traffic will likely decrease.

However, doing the following, well, that remains important:

Producing content marketing with E-EAT in mind

Trying and being as helpful as possible in terms of creating your content marketing and improving the U/X

Raising a site’s authority through white-hat link-building practices?

 

Who is Ryan Walsh

Ryan Walsh is the SEO mastermind in Cardiff.
For over 10 years, we have been using SEO to play chess with your clients. They make their move, then we make ours. We make businesses more visible, we drive more traffic, and we ultimately help companies to become successful through “search marketing”.

 

We are one of the best in the game. For a no-obligation quote, please call us.