Marketers Scramble to Adapt to Changing Rules of Search

Snapshot
Marketers are facing a seismic shift in how consumers search online as AI-generated summaries increasingly replace traditional search results. Platforms like ChatGPT and Google Gemini now deliver direct answers, reducing the number of users who click through to brand websites. This change has led to measurable drops in site traffic, prompting companies like Mailchimp and Back Market to revamp their content strategies.

Intuit Mailchimp is optimizing pages for bots—prioritizing load speed and machine readability—while Back Market is adopting a more conversational tone to better appeal to AI models. The rise of “zero-click” search, where users resolve queries without clicking links, is also accelerating. Bain research shows that 42% of regular AI users already rely on these tools for shopping recommendations.

CMOs trained on classic SEO are discovering that traditional metrics like click-through rate no longer capture performance. While AI-driven search traffic is still small, it’s growing fast—Back Market reports a 470x increase year-over-year. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s forthcoming “shopping button” could eventually help convert AI-driven discovery into purchases.

Trust remains a concern, with only 15% of consumers willing to share financial data with generative AI platforms. Still, the direction is clear: marketing teams must now consider how their brands are represented in AI-generated summaries, not just search engine rankings.

Full story: WSJ