Why are some companies thriving on the Internet right now while others are watching their web traffic slowly disappear?

AI search has made Google search obsolete. 

Unless you change with the times, your web traffic and leads will continue to dry up. Here’s what you need to know.  

Why Traditional Google Search is Dead

Before AI, we all went to Google, typed in a query, and received 10 links on the first page of Google. 

Do the same search today and you get an AI-generated answer at the top of the page. Google now tries to answer the question itself rather than send you to a bunch of websites with the information you need.

Thus, no matter how hard you work on your website to rank it in the top ten of Google's recommendations, you are now more likely to find yourself on the dreaded page 2 or 3 of Google where your potential customers or audience won't find you.

Secondly, people are tired of doing all the work of visiting various sites to get information. 

They want an instant answer or an instant recommendation. 

Enter AI Search

Tools like perplexity and chat GPT are exploding in popularity right now because if you ask them for the best pizza restaurant in your city, they instantly analyze thousands of sources and give you an answer based on customer reviews or sales or whatever metric is relevant to identifying the best pizza restaurant. 

You don't have to spend hours reading the reviews yourself or visiting their websites. You just get an answer or a selection of highly curated, AI-generated recommendations.

This is the game in 2025. 

So how do you win and get AI to recommend you?

Old Google SEO search expected you to stuff some keywords on a page and then it ranked you accordingly. 

However, AI is way smarter than that. 

AI is looking for things like actual proof that you're worth recommending.

Here's what you need to do.

1. Communicate clearly

 Make your website crystal clear about what you do, who you help, and what makes you different. Do not hide behind vague jargon and marketing speak.

Don't say " We partner with growing businesses to optimize their efficiency and streamline processes". 

Say "We help small businesses save 20 hours per week by automating their client onboarding process". 

This one change will increase your AI visibility by making both humans and AI instantly understand exactly what you do, who you help, and how you help. 

Clarity makes your website to be recommended by AI tools. 

So cut out the fancy and meaningless language.

2. Get your business mentioned across as many trustworthy websites as possible

AI isn't just looking at your website. It's scanning the entire internet to build a complete picture of your business. 

It's checking how often you're mentioned, what others say about you, and whether you're consistently described the same way across different platforms. 

Therefore, work to build up your digital reputation.

3. Use AI-optimized press releases

Start with one of your best case studies that shows how you got a really good result for one of your clients and then turn that case study into an AI-optimized press release.

Do this right and that press release should get picked up by hundreds of reputable websites. 

And because it's AI optimised it will keep teaching AI tools (or prompting them) to recommend you to researchers and customers.

4. Create a blog post on your website that lists the best businesses in your category, with you as number one

This is one of the easiest and most effective shortcuts to be recommended by AI tools. The catch is to make sure that your blog is detailed and helpful. 

Explain the real pros and cons of the different options including your competition. 

Be truthful and helpful to the reader.

5. Ask for detailed positive reviews from your happy customers

AI tools rely heavily on reviews. They're looking everywhere, not just Google. 

They are looking at Yelp, Quora and Reddit. They are looking at industry-specific review sites, and social media mentions. Anywhere they can find reviews.

Therefore, ask your happy customers specific questions like sharing what specific results they got from working with you.

These success stories then become the perfect training data for AI to understand exactly why you're worth recommending.

Bonus Non-AI Tip

6. Create YouTube Content

YouTube isn't just the second-biggest search engine. It's also the primary place people go to to find real wisdom and knowledge, not just information and entertainment. 

YouTube is the world's biggest university.

Unlike Google, the YouTube algorithm is still laser-focused on showing the best content.

Make great content that helps people and YouTube will show it to the right audience. If your videos are useful your audience will view you as a person or business they feel like they know and trust. 

The leads you will get from YouTube are so much better than the lead leads you will get from Google and probably from AI searches. So invest in well-scripted videos. 

Conclusion

In the age of AI, clear communication and good writing are more important than ever.