We are now entering a new era of conversational, AI-driven search, powered by tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Google integrated AI mode (available now in the US), and Perplexity AI.
Understanding how to track your brand’s presence across generative AI tools isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. Startups and investors need to rethink visibility strategies to stay competitive in the evolving digital landscape.
From Keywords SEO to AI Search: The Shifting Sands of Search
For years, SEO revolved around optimizing content for keyword rankings on Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP). But large language models (LLMs) are changing how users interact with information. Instead of returning a list of links, AI tools now provide summarized, conversational answers often without requiring the user to click through to a website.
This transition from keyword queries to conversational search is reshaping the fundamentals of digital discovery.
AI Search Isn’t the Future—It’s the Now, and Here’s the Proof
Search is undergoing a dramatic transformation. While traditional engines like Google still dominate, their growth is slowing—and even declining in some markets. In contrast, AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity are surging, with AI chatbot traffic rising nearly 81% year-over-year. (One Little Web).
Google has responded by integrating AI Overviews into search, already reaching over 1.5 billion users monthly. But this shift has consequences: early data suggests organic traffic could drop by up to 30% for traditional results.(Google, SEO.com, Brandignity).
User behavior is evolving too. Consumers increasingly rely on AI-generated answers, with many using tools like ChatGPT for nearly half their searches. Engagement is also rising—AI-referred users spend more time on sites and bounce less.
Meanwhile, AI-driven search advertising is experiencing rapid growth, with spending projected to soar from $1 billion today to $26 billion by 2029 (eMarketer via ET BrandEquity, TechMonitor.ai). This signals a major shift in the future of search, where traditional keyword-based ads are giving way to intelligent, intent-driven experiences powered by AI — reshaping how brands connect with consumers online.
Implications for Startups: Opportunities Amidst Disruption
Startups face both disruption and opportunity. Here’s how to stay ahead:
- The “Clickless” Challenge
Generative AI tools often provide direct answers—cutting out the need for users to click. This shift disrupts traditional SEO, where ranking meant traffic. To stay visible, brands must focus on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): delivering concise, authoritative content that AI can easily synthesize and cite. - E-E-A-T Matters More Than Ever
Google and AI systems alike prioritize Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). Startups must create well-sourced, experience-rich content to signal credibility and domain authority—both to search engines and AI models. - Structure + Semantics Win
AI thrives on clarity. Use schema markup, long-tail conversational queries, and structured formatting to ensure your content is machine-readable and context-aware. - Product-Led SEO Takes the Lead
In the AI age, your product is your best SEO asset. Product-led SEO prioritizes in-product features, real user behavior, and usage data as signals for discovery:- User-Generated Content (UGC): Encourage reviews, forums, Q&A sections, and community content that organically answers user questions and provides real-world experience, feeding AI models with authentic data.
- In-Product Searchability: Design products with features that are inherently searchable and discoverable, anticipating conversational queries.
- Data-Driven Content Creation: Use product usage data and user behavior within the product to inform your content strategy, ensuring it aligns with actual user needs and the problems your product solves.
- Demonstrable Value: A product that truly delivers unique value and a superior user experience will naturally generate positive sentiment and organic mentions, which AI models can interpret as signals of trustworthiness and relevance.
- Filling the Support Gap: The rise of open-source AI models creates a massive opportunity for startups to provide commercial support, consulting, and training services to businesses seeking to integrate these powerful tools.
- Accelerated Visibility for SMBs: Intriguingly, AI search tools can democratize visibility. A Search Engine Land study shows referral traffic from generative AI increased by 123% specifically to small and medium-sized businesses between September 2024 and February 2025. This suggests that smaller players can gain traction faster by optimizing for AI, especially through a product-led approach.
Implications for VCs: Where to Place Your Bets
Venture Capitalists are already keenly aware of this shift, with one out of every three VC dollars invested globally in 2024 going to an AI startup. Global AI investment is projected to reach nearly €1.9 trillion by 2030. (Vestbee)
For VCs, this environment demands a refined investment thesis, directly addressing the AI search paradigm:
- Investing in AI Search Visibility Enablers: VCs should prioritize startups building the next generation of tools and platforms that help brands and businesses gain visibility specifically within AI-powered search environments. This includes companies offering advanced GEO analytics, AI-optimized content creation platforms, conversational AI engagement tools, and E-E-A-T amplification services for the AI era.
- Portfolio Strategy: Product-Led SEO as a Mandate: For existing and new portfolio companies, VCs should advocate for and fund robust product-led SEO strategies. This means encouraging companies to build products that inherently generate search-friendly content, cultivate strong user communities for valuable UGC, and design features that naturally answer complex, conversational queries. Success metrics for these companies should evolve to include AI-driven engagement and brand mentions, not just traditional click-through rates.
- Data Moats for AI Consumption: Invest in startups that possess or can uniquely access and leverage proprietary, high-quality datasets. In an AI-driven search world, the quality and uniqueness of the data models are trained on will be a significant competitive advantage. VCs should look for companies that can create “data moats” that make their AI outputs more accurate and authoritative.
- Brand Trust and Authority in the Age of AI: In a world where AI synthesizes answers, the underlying source’s trustworthiness is paramount. VCs should back companies that not only understand how to optimize for AI consumption but also rigorously build and maintain brand authority and trust. This includes ethical AI content generation, verifiable sourcing, and strong brand reputation management within the AI ecosystem.
Final Thoughts: The Future of Search Is Conversational
We are witnessing the most significant transformation in search since Google’s inception. The transition from keyword-based results to AI-generated answers is fundamentally changing user behavior, marketing strategy, and digital competition.
For startups, this is a clear call to innovate and adapt their content and visibility strategies. For VCs, it’s an invitation to invest in the companies that are not just riding the AI wave, but actively shaping its future, especially those building the tools and platforms that enable brands to thrive in this new, conversational search era.
At Seonali, we believe startups and investors who adapt early will lead the next chapter of digital visibility. The AI search revolution is here, now is the time to monitor your brand’s role in it.
Founder of Seonali, platform for brand visibility in LLM responses.
