So You Think You Understand Conversational AI’s Impact on Search & SEO? Read This First
A lot has changed for search and SEO in the last decade, all primarily dictated by Google — from E-A-T (now E-E-A-T) to the introduction of RankBrain in 2015 (to help Google better understand user queries) to the Helpful Content Update in 2022.
But for the first time in years, we're in the midst of the first major shift in how we search where the search giant isn't necessarily dictating the terms. Platforms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity have created new information discovery and retrieval systems that operate outside Google's established ecosystem.
Yes, Google is still the de-facto search engine. But it seems cracks are appearing in their once ‘unshakable moat,’ as Garrett Sussman, Director of Marketing at iPullRank, puts it.
So what does the emerging AI-driven search mean for marketers, users, and the future of information discovery? The answer begins with understanding how users are moving away from traditional search patterns.
Why are We Moving Away from Traditional Search?
As Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder of SparkToro says, “For the first time in nine years, Google announced how many searches they receive. Why would they do that after being so secretive for so long?”
More than 5 trillion searches on Google annually. Staggering right?
“I think these announcements about search volume suggest they feel threatened by emerging AI platforms. They are so embedded in the technological ecosystem and have so much data... [but now] Google seems to be having its like Blockbuster Netflix moment,” Garrett says.
“However, when we consider human nature, the shift to AI search isn’t surprising. We’re wired to look for simpler, more efficient ways to find information. We want shortcuts. If there's an easy button to do the research for you, people will take that,” he continues.
The conversational search experience offers precisely this sort of experience and efficiency.
Rather than clicking through multiple links and forums—a time-consuming process that has defined search for years—we can now pose questions without worrying about keywords and receive specific answers back.
Google’s integration of AI overviews into search results isn’t exactly helping matters. By placing these AI-generated summaries above traditional links, Google has forced users to engage with the new search approach first. Talk of accelerating the demise of your primary business model.
However, not all search queries are created equal.
Different Searches, Different Approaches
The impact of conversational AI on the SERPS varies based on the user’s search intent:
- Simple informational queries will likely be satisfied entirely by AI overviews, reducing click-through rates to source websites
- Complex research tasks may still require deeper exploration beyond AI summaries
- Commercial intent searches will continue to drive traffic to purchase destinations
“If I'm just looking for how to nutmeg my opponent in soccer and it shows me an AI overview, I'm good. I don't need to go searching deep down,” Garrett says. However, for more complex topics requiring nuance or multiple perspectives, users may still explore beyond the AI summary.
The Confirmation Bias Dilemma
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of conversational AI search is how it doubles down on confirmation bias. “For example, Google has so much information about you that it can give you personalized search results that suits your context,” Garrett explains.
“The question becomes whether we want Google to give us exactly what we want or to give us diversified voices, opinions, and perspectives,” he continues.
And as these new information retrieval systems gather increasingly detailed profiles of their users, they end up looking to deliver tailored results that align with the user’s preferences. Garrett shares an interesting example:
“The other day I was doing some research and I wanted to see if iPull Rank was showing up for searches of the best B2B SEO agency, which we know is the answer. iPull Rank is the best, but I was curious if it would tell me that. And so the response was, iPull Rank is the best B2B SEO agency. So then I ask ChatGPT, ‘Are you just telling me that or is that actually the case?’ And it’s like, ‘Well, it is one of the top agencies, but I’m saying it's number one because I know from your custom instructions on ChatGPT that you are the Director of Marketing at iPull Rank, and I'm giving you that result because that would satisfy what you're looking for.”
This level of personalization comes close to what I would describe as a “potential mind control device.” One that responds with what it believes the user wants to hear rather than objective information.
What does all this change mean for how we approach search, SEO, and marketing in general?
Marketing in the Age of Conversational AI
Conversational AI represents a challenge and an opportunity as visibility metrics and user engagement patterns adapt. For marketers, these four strategic shifts are a must:
1. Educate Yourself on the Technology
Understanding how these systems work provides you critical insight into available opportunities for visibility. The current iteration of language models use retrieval augmented generation, pulling from internet sources to create their responses.
“For example, when you're looking and trying to have your brand or your article be visible for a given query, it has to be quantitatively relevant,” explains Garrett. “Google takes the words, translates them into mathematical values, plots them on a graph and they say, ‘well, man is related to woman and King is related to Queen.’ So how close is your article or this passage in your article relevant to what someone's searching for and is it the most relevant?”
If the answer is yes, your article gets pulled into the AI-generated overviews.
2. Rethink Performance Metrics
Traffic patterns are changing as users find answers without clicking through to websites. Zero-click content, coined by Amanda Natividad, VP Marketing at SparkToro, means we need to revisit how we measure marketing success in search and SEO.
“If people start looking at these search results and they're not clicking through... does that change the value of showing up on Google?” asks Garrett.
With informational searches potentially staying on the results page, marketers need to adapt their expectations: “If I'm looking for something to buy, a commercial intent, I still need to go buy it somewhere... But if it's purely informational and it's not something that's specific to my brand, then other than maybe having my brand mentioned... how much value is that traffic? [You] should at least expect traffic to potentially drop,” he says.
3. Experiment with Understanding Search Psychology
What’s the psychology behind conversational searches? How do these new queries reflect underlying biases? And what does that mean for how we develop content?
“I'm using custom GPTs to evaluate some of the queries from a bias perspective. I am fascinated by the idea of confirmation bias and how it affects the way that we phrase our searches, figuring out how those searches may be biased... and ensuring that our content shows up and addresses the biases of the people we're most likely to appeal to. And then trying to see if that results in conversions and shows up for more searches, or drives more traffic,” Garrett shares.
4. Embrace Ambiguity in Attribution
The reality of modern marketing is that attribution is messy and non-linear. As I mentioned to Garrett during our conversation, “We need to get more comfortable with more ambiguity. The playbook isn't the same anymore.”
Garrett agrees: “We probably have to do so for a while. There's always this conversation about attribution models... Google actually did this fascinating study in 2020 all about what they called the ‘messy middle.’ Historically, we’ve wanted to think about the marketing journey as a funnel... But what they found was it’s more of this infinite flow of exploration and evaluation. Think of it as an infinity loop. It's messy. It’s not linear.”
Traditional Search Isn’t Going Anywhere…Yet
Historical data indicates that it took Google six years from launch to average about 4.5 billion searches per month. ChatGPT recorded 3.8 billion visits in January 2025, two years after launch.
While these numbers suggest that our information seeking behaviours are changing, traditional search still has significant advantages.
As Garrett explains, “Different use cases demand different approaches. There are some search queries that AI overviews or summarizations on ChatGPT are great for. But there are also other situations that benefit from Google’s established strengths. For example, if I look for a local search on ChatGPT, it’s not there yet.”
A hybrid approach, where users make use of both traditional search and conversational AI depending on their specific needs likely represents the immediate future. For marketers, search visibility will remain important. But how we define “visibility” will need to expand beyond traditional SERPs to include presence in AI-generated responses.
What’s Next?
Ready to keep growing? We've got a couple of other resources you might find helpful, such as:
- Marketo's co-founder on how we fix revenue marketing
- 50+ marketing resources to help you make an impact in 2025
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