Over the years, marketers have crafted their strategies around a single golden rule: get high rankings on Google, and visitors will come. However, as AI overviews, chat-based search,h and the instant checkout experience reshape the way that consumers find and purchase the products they want, this rule is no longer the case. This blog explores the massive change in the organic traffic and demonstrates how businesses can adapt to the needs of both machines and humans. If Google isn’t the primary source of information, your next customer could come from chatbots.
If there’s a thing that marketers have learned throughout their careers that is: don’t become too comfortable using Google.
Every couple of years, the algorithm updates come out like a surprise quiz. Panda penalized content that was not well-written, Penguin cracked down on websites that were deemed to be spammy, and Hummingbird caused everyone to be more concerned over “semantic search.” Each time, SEO pros scrambled to determine what it meant, revise their playbooks, and reassure their customers.
However, this time it’s something completely different. The rise of AI-driven searches as well as shopping doesn’t simply mean an algorithmic tweak; it’s a complete revolution. Artificial Intelligence is changing the way people search, where they look, as well as how they search, what they click (or do not click), and the way they purchase. AI Overviews, large-language models (LLMs), and the newest technology for buying with AI are altering the landscape of organic search faster than you could describe it as “page rank.”
In short, Google’s updates change the ranking of your keywords.
In the present, AI innovation is shaking up the whole concept of organic traffic.
Every marketer is asking now is What happens if Google ceases to be your primary traffic source?
The Decline of Traditional Click-Through Experiences
When your graph of organic visitors seems like a ski slope, don’t worry.
According to SEMrush, the AI-driven search engine may surpass traditional search engines as the most popular method of searching in 2028. We’re already witnessing the impacts of this. Google’s AI Overviews, launched in 2024 as a part of the Search Generative Experience (SGE), are now appearing in about 13% of searches, nearly double what we observed from January through March 2025.
The result? More than 60% of searches are now completed with just one click. Certain industries are witnessing drops in traffic that range from 15 percent to 64% since AI Overviews rolled out. Publishers, e-commerce sites, and SaaS businesses are feeling it the most.
Even if you’ve done it all “right”, optimized your website’s content, aimed at the best keywords, and secured the top spot, your visitors may get the answer via Google’s stunning AI overview instead of visiting your site, which means you won’t reap the benefits.
In a nutshell: you’re the brain that came up with the solution, on how, ver the robot to take the credit.
The Rise of LLM Search
If this all seems a bit b, leak, but here’s the bright side. There are a few evidence that suggests AI-referrals could be more relthane over traditional ones.
Visitors from LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini are showing to be power users with high intent. According to SEMRush, visitors who are driven by LLMs are 4.4 percent more likely convert than visitors coming via traditional search.
Adobe’s holiday retail study for 2024 supports this assertion: customers who came from search engines powered by AI stayed longer, visited 12times more pages, and bounced less than Google-based counterparts.
The increase? Astronomical. Between July 2024 and February 2025, the number of retail websites that use AI has increased 12x, surpassing traditional sources of engagement across all channels.
Imagine in this manner: the traditional SEO was about achieving a certain level of ranking. LLM search is all about relevance. The AI doesn’t care about backlinks; it is focused on providing useful information. If your business can deliver these, you’re playing the game.
AI As a Sales Channel
Up until recently, the use of AI was primarily focused on discovery products, personalized search results, or perhaps chatbots that helped users to find the right pair of shoes. Now, AI doesn’t just influence shopping choices and make them easier; it’s actually completing the process.
About a third of customers have used one form of AI interface when making a purchase. If it’s asking an online assistant to recommend “the best noise-canceling headphones under $200,” or having the smart mirror recommend the shade of lipstick you should choose, consumers are beginning to trust computers with their purchase choices. The more intuitive these experiences are, the more trust is converted into purchases.
The most significant cdate change to ChatGPT’s instant checkout function.
It’s still in the early stages, and the research isn’t yet complete, but the potential for it is huge. Imagine a customer typing “What’s a good moisturizer for sensitive skin?” and ChatGPT does not just recommend your product, but also lets customers click Buy Now directly on the screen. No tabs, no scrolls, no bouncing between apps. It’s a smooth conversation that goes from interest to conversion.
For marketers, it’s exhilarating and frightening. The traditional eCommerce funnels, carefully created journeys from awareness to final decision, are being rearranged into a single AI-powered event. The process of discovery, evaluation, and purchasing now happens all in one place, aided by algorithms based on millions of conversations and data points.
This change creates a completely new sales environment, in which your “storefront” might not even be yours. Selling in the future isn’t about just ranking highly in Google and optimizing the performance of your PDPs. It’s about being available, trustworthy, and available whenever the conversation takes place, whether it’s on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemin, i or any other AI assistance your next client chooses to become friends with.
How to Adapt to the Future of AI Commerce
If all the talk of AI taking over your traffic and changing the sales funnel makes you sweaty, don’t. It’s not the end of natural discovery. It’s the beginning of a more intelligent, more dynamic, and improved version of it.
The brands that will thrive in the new age will not be the ones that are clinging to the top rankings for keywords or chasing every algorithm change. These will be those arranging their information, refining their product narratives, and bringing clients (and machines) precisely where they are.
Here’s how you can increase your visibility and ensure that your brand’s name is always visible when the next opportunity to click on your website doesn’t come.
1. Know the way LLMs know your business
Before you can maximize your SEO visibility using AI-driven search, it is essential to be aware of what they think you’re doing. Large language models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are basically educated students. They’ve absorbed vast amounts of data about yourbusinessas wels your products and your competitors. But do they truly know your brand’s name correctly? That’s a different matter.
That’s where tools like Akeneo’s Artificial Discovery Optimization feature can help that help businesses improve their content, organize, and present information about their products in ways that are compatible with the way LLMs understand and extract information. Instead of chasing the right keyword density or backlinks, the goal now is to make your content machine-comprehensible. The more an AI model can comprehend your content, the value you place on it, as well as your unique features, the more likelyit ise to respond to you, or even suggest you directly.
Consider it SEO in the AI age. Clarity structurey, and semantic richness are replacing keywords and meta tags. Your goal isn’t to fudge algorithms anymore, but to show the algorithms who you are.
2. Incorporate feedback from customers and insights into your product’s language
If you’re looking to learn what AI describes your brand, don’t take a look at your site – instead, look at the people you serve. A recent study found that Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn are among the top sources on Google’s AI Overviews. Translation? AI is actually learning how to discuss your products based on what real users have to say about them online.
The best way to remain relevant is to be attentive to customer conversations and incorporate the conversations into your product’s language. Utilize the same phrases, words, and issue statements that your customers are using. The tone and the intent of your customers should be reflected in your description of your products, FAQ,s and other educational content. If your content is the authentic language of your customers, AI systems are more likely to refer you to them as a trustworthy, highly credible, relevant, ant and contextually appropriate source.
3. Make use of structured and rich data tboostsAI’sAI ability to be found
AI is awed by structured information. It is how it determines which data to rely on. Utilize schema markup, extensive metadata, and enhanced attributes for your products to ensure that your content is “machine-friendly.” The more information you provide to your content, the more likely AI systems will be able to comprehend (and be able to cite) your content precisely. If your product’s information is accurate and consistent in a machine-readable format, it’s much more likely to be featured in AI Overviews or be referenced in answers to questions from conversations or even suggested in new AI shopping apps.
4. Begin keeping track of LLM referral traffic, as well as other KPIs that are new, to keep ahead
As big language models such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemin, and Copilot begin to shape new customer experiences, they’re slowlbecoming an g important source of traffic. The problem? Many brands aren’t tracking the phenomenon as of yet. Begin by looking for patterns in your data that suggest an AI source; odd referrer URLs or sudden surges in direct traffic following popular topics, or even visits which appear from thin air (spoiler, it is likely that they came via some kind of AI assistance). Certain analytics platforms are exploring dedicated tracking of AI-based referrals. The ones who start early will have an advantage.
Beyond traffic and beyond, it’s time to broaden your KPIs. You can measure AI Citation volume (how frequently your website content gets cited or mentioned through AI tools), as well as engagement depth (how long people stay engaged after they’ve accessed AI-powered resources), and conversions by artificial intelligence (purchases or sign-ups that started by or triggered by an AI contact).
Embracing the Future of Search & Shopping
Google might be the center of your marketing universe,e used to revolve. However, that solar system is rapidly expanding. Today, the search engine is a part of an entire array of AI-driven platforms,s such asassistants ands interfaces, that are all helping to illuminate new avenues between the two.
This means that the landscape of nature is more complicated than ever before. However, it’s also exciting. For the first time ever, brands aren’t limited to results from searches. They are present in recommendations, conversations, and purchases that aren’t triggered by opening a browser tab. Marketers who take advantage of this trend that allows them to enrich their product information, pay attention to the voice of their customers,s and comprehend the way AI sees their business are the ones to remain visible in this age that is machine-mediated.
