Search is changing. Google now shows AI-generated summaries for some searches, people are asking chatbots questions they used to type into a search box, and there’s no shortage of predictions that SEO is dead. It’s been declared dead many times before. So what should a business actually do about AI search?
The honest position is that nobody knows exactly how this will play out, and anyone selling certainty is guessing. What we can do is look at what’s reasonably clear, and focus on the things that make sense whichever way it goes.
This is a practical view of AI search for business owners, not a forecast.
What seems to be happening with AI search
A few broad changes are fairly visible:
- AI summaries in search results. For some searches, especially informational ones, Google shows an AI-written answer near the top, with links to sources. How often they appear varies and has changed over time.
- Fewer clicks on some simple questions. If someone gets a quick answer on the results page, they may not need to click. This isn’t new, as featured snippets did something similar, but AI summaries extend it.
- More people using AI assistants to research purchases, compare options or get recommendations, sometimes before they ever reach Google.
What’s much less clear is how big these effects will be for any particular business, sector or type of search. Treat confident statistics on this with caution unless you can see where they come from.
What probably hasn’t changed
For many local service businesses, the searches that matter most are ones like “electrician near me” or “family solicitor Liverpool”. People searching these want a business, not an essay. Map results, reviews and service pages are still central to those searches.
And the AI tools themselves draw on information from the web. The businesses they mention or cite generally have clear, credible, consistent information about themselves online. The fundamentals of good SEO overlap heavily with whatever makes a business easy for these systems to understand.
The safest strategy is the one that works whether people find you through a search result, an AI answer or a friend’s recommendation: be clearly the best answer for your customers, and make that easy to verify.
Practical things worth doing now
Be unmistakably clear about what you do
Make sure your website states plainly what you offer, where, and for whom. Vague brand language like “solutions for tomorrow” gives people and machines nothing to work with. Specific service pages, clear location information and straightforward descriptions help everywhere.
Keep your business information consistent
Your name, address, phone number, opening hours and services should match across your website, Google Business Profile, social profiles and the main directories. Inconsistent information makes it harder for any system to be confident about you.
Invest in genuine expertise
Generic content that just restates what’s available elsewhere is easy for AI to summarise without sending anyone to you. Content based on real experience is harder to replace: what you’ve seen on jobs, specific advice for your area, honest answers about costs and trade-offs. That’s also what Google has long said it wants to reward.
Build your reputation beyond your website
Reviews, mentions in local press, listings with trade bodies and genuine recommendations all shape how your business is represented online. They matter for traditional search and are likely to matter for AI search too.
Focus on the searches that bring customers
If some of your blog traffic came from basic “what is” questions, that’s the traffic most exposed to AI search answers. It was also probably the least likely to become customers. Put more effort into service pages, comparison content and anything close to a buying decision.
What not to do
- Don’t panic-publish. Mass-producing AI-written articles to “keep up” tends to create exactly the kind of thin content that doesn’t perform. Google’s guidance focuses on whether content is helpful, not how it was made, but unedited bulk content rarely is.
- Don’t pay for magic fixes. Be sceptical of anyone selling a guaranteed way to “rank in ChatGPT” or similar. Some advice in this area is sensible; some is repackaged SEO with a new label and a higher price.
- Don’t abandon what works. If search is bringing enquiries today, keep investing in it while watching how things change.
Keep an eye on your own data
Rather than relying on headlines, watch your own numbers. In Search Console, look for queries where impressions hold up but clicks fall, which can suggest answers are being given on the results page. In GA4, check whether referral traffic from AI tools appears. And keep asking new customers how they found you. It’s the simplest way to spot changes in your own market.
Where to go from here
If you’d like to talk through what this means for your business specifically, our SEO team can review how clearly your business shows up online today. For businesses exploring AI more broadly, our AI solutions service looks at practical uses beyond search.
