#ai-powered-search

#ai-powered-search

If you're still debating whether answer engine optimization (AEO) belongs in your go-to-market strategy, you are already behind the curve. From January to May 2025, website traffic from AI-powered platforms surged more than 500%. And at a recent CMO roundtable I co-hosted in Boston, leaders agreed on one thing: how your brand appears in AI-generated responses now shapes how buyers perceive your company, evaluate your executives and categorize your product or service.

Since last year's disastrous rollout of Google's AI Overviews, the world at large has been aware of how AI-powered search results can differ wildly from the traditional list of links search engines have generated for decades. Now, new research helps quantify that difference, showing that AI search engines tend to cite less popular websites and ones that wouldn't even appear in the Top 100 links listed in an "organic" Google search.

Perplexity excels primarily in its AI-powered search capabilities but also includes many of the same functions found in standard AI chatbots. With access to multiple models, it can effectively manage tasks like creative writing, file processing, and image generation. However, its underwhelming deep research tool and the unclear details about which model powers its media generation features can be disappointing.

"We've made some major upgrades to search on ChatGPT when accessed via Atlas," Ryan O'Rouke, OpenAI's lead designer for the browser, said during the livestream. If a user asks for movie reviews in the Atlas search bar, a chatbot-style answer will pop-up first, rather than the more traditional collection of blue links users might expect when searching the web via Google.

The digital landscape keeps evolving, but the rise of AI-powered search marks a more profound shift. Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews are transforming how information is discovered and consumed - reshaping the pathways between brands and buyers. For B2B marketers, this moment brings both complexity and opportunity. The familiar playbook that once guided prospects through a predictable journey is being rewritten in real time.

Fox's flagship streaming service Fox One doesn't only symbolize the state of the TV and streaming market, by making traditional TV's most premium programming, NFL football, fully available without a pay-TV subscription. It also represents the state of streaming technology. Yes, I'm referring to AI, which Fox is using to power the streaming service's search engine and customer support. But I'm also talking about how Fox is unifying its streaming ad tech stack around a proprietary ad server.

Apple is quietly preparing one of the most significant upgrades to its software ecosystem in years: a new artificial-intelligence-powered web search tool designed to supercharge Siri and reshape the way users interact with information. According to Bloomberg reports, the project-codenamed World Knowledge Answers-is slated for a potential 2026 rollout. More than just a technological step forward, this move signals Apple's intent to carve out a distinct position in the rapidly shifting AI landscape, one currently dominated by OpenAI, Google, and emerging players like Perplexity.

The internet is undergoing its most fundamental transformation since the birth of the web browser. While millions of dollars continue to be poured into homepage redesigns, a seismic shift in behavior is rendering these efforts obsolete. The numbers don't lie: we've entered the age of the question, not the click. The great click recession In 2024, nearly 60% of Google searches ended without a single click, compared to just 26% in 2022. This isn't a gradual decline. It's a behavioral revolution. Users are no longer browsing; they're asking.

For brands, that's a double-edged sword. The good news is the potential for additional exposure. The challenge is replacing organic search traffic ( see the Semrush study) and surfacing the company and its products in those AI-generated answers. A growing set of generative engine optimization ( GEO) tools promises to fix this problem by measuring and improving how products and brands appear in the responses.

In some cases, that's because the person doing the searching has added "reddit" to their query, deliberately pushing material from the internet's biggest, most indispensable hub of conversations to the top of Google results. But even if you haven't expressed an explicit preference for Reddit links, Google often emphasizes them. They can feel like islands of quality information floating in a river of links to sites that are spammy or just not very good.

The shift toward AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity AI is transforming how people access information, impacting traditional business visibility strategies.