"The shift is already visible in the data. Traffic to U.S. retail sites from AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity surged 4,700% year over year by July 2025, according to Adobe Analytics. A Capgemini study conducted in October/November 2024 found that 58% of consumers now rely on AI tools for product recommendations, rather than traditional search engines."
"Meanwhile, people are completing more of their research directly within AI-generated results, a major departure from the classic "search, click, browse" pattern of the last two decades. Google AI overviews now appear in over 60% of search queries, according to Xponent 21, fundamentally changing how information is consumed and how often users need to leave the search page. For"
"For businesses that depend on traditional search visibility, these shifts represent a structural change. And they place new importance on something many organizations have historically underestimated: whether their websites are built in ways that AI systems can actually understand. AEO and GEO: The New Rules of Discoverability As AI tools begin interpreting and delivering more of the web's information, two concepts are emerging as essential to online visibility: answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO)."
AI-powered platforms are dramatically shifting online traffic and product discovery away from traditional search engines. Visits from AI tools to U.S. retail sites increased by thousands of percent, and a majority of consumers now use AI for product recommendations. Users are completing more research within AI-generated answers, with Google AI overviews appearing in a majority of queries. The emerging practices of answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) prioritize clear headings, descriptive labels, and machine-readable structures so AI systems can extract and present information. Businesses reliant on search visibility face structural change and must redesign sites for AI discoverability.
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