Your Customers Stopped Googling.
Did You Notice?
They're asking ChatGPT. Searching TikTok. Reading Reddit threads. Talking to Perplexity. And if your brand isn't showing up in those answers, your competitors' brands are.
of consumers now replace traditional search with AI
The Search Landscape Has Fractured. Your Strategy Needs to Catch Up.
For two decades, search engine optimization meant one thing: rank higher on Google. That playbook worked. Until it didn't.
In 2024, something shifted permanently. Google introduced AI Overviews, synthesizing answers directly in search results. ChatGPT hit 200 million weekly users. Perplexity AI became the fastest-growing search product in history. Reddit, after Google's algorithm update, became one of the most visible domains on the internet. TikTok quietly became the search engine of choice for anyone under 35.
The result? Your customers are finding information, comparing options, and making decisions across a dozen different platforms before they ever land on your website. And if your brand doesn't exist in those conversations, you don't exist to those customers.
This is AI Search Optimization. Also called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), AI Overview Optimization (AIO), or Search Everywhere Optimization. The name is still evolving because the discipline itself is new. What isn't new is the underlying truth: you need to be where your customers are looking. And they're no longer looking in just one place.
"Brands not cited in Google's AI Overviews see organic click-through rates decline by 65.2% year-over-year."
Semrush Sensor, 2025 [8]"Earned third-party content (news, reviews, publications) makes up the largest share of sources cited by AI search engines, surpassing both owned brand content and UGC."
Level Agency, AI SEO Research [2]"Gartner predicts organic search traffic will decline 25% by 2026 as consumers embrace AI-powered search alternatives."
Gartner, Predicts 2025 [5]CTR decline without AI citations [8]
AI search traffic increase since 2023 [3]
Weekly ChatGPT active users
Predicted organic traffic decline by 2026 [5]
The New Search Surfaces
Where Your Customers Actually Search Now
Google is still the largest search engine. But it's no longer the only one that matters. Here's where we optimize your presence and why each platform demands a unique approach.
Google AI Overviews
Google now generates AI-powered summaries at the top of search results for a growing share of queries. If your content isn't cited in these overviews, you're losing clicks even if you rank on page one.
CTR decline for brands not cited in AI Overviews [8]
ChatGPT & Perplexity
Millions of users now bypass Google entirely, asking ChatGPT and Perplexity AI for recommendations, comparisons, and service providers. These platforms pull from authoritative web content, reviews, and structured data.
increase in AI search traffic since 2023 [3]
Reddit & Forums
Reddit now dominates AI citations and Google results alike. Google elevated Reddit content in recent algorithm updates, and AI models heavily reference Reddit discussions when generating answers.
higher conversion rate than standard search [4]
TikTok & YouTube
Gen Z and millennials increasingly use TikTok and YouTube as their primary search engines for local services, product reviews, and how-to content. Billions of monthly queries happen outside traditional search.
of Gen Z prefer TikTok over Google for searches [7]
"The question isn't whether AI will change search. It already has."
How AI Decides
What Makes AI Cite Your Brand Over Someone Else's
AI models don't rank websites. They synthesize information and cite sources they trust. Understanding what earns that trust is the entire game.
Third-Party Authority
AI models weigh earned mentions more heavily than anything you publish about yourself. News articles, industry publications, independent reviews, and forum discussions where your brand is referenced carry significantly more weight than self-published content.
This is why Digital PR and authentic community engagement have become core components of search strategy. You can't just optimize your own website anymore. You need the internet talking about you. [2]
Extractable Content Structure
LLMs don't read your website the way humans do. They scan, extract, and synthesize. Content needs to be structured for extraction: one idea per paragraph, clear subheadings, lists and tables for comparison data, sentences under 20 words for key claims.
Dense paragraphs of marketing copy get ignored. Structured, factual, well-organized content gets cited. The writing style that works for AI is actually better for humans too. [2]
Entity Strength & Consistency
AI models understand entities: people, brands, locations, topics, and the relationships between them. Your brand's presence in knowledge graphs, structured data, and consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) information across the web forms your "entity" in the AI's understanding.
Weak, inconsistent, or fragmented entity signals mean AI models are less confident recommending you. Strong, consistent entity presence means you become the default answer. [1]
Freshness & Specificity
AI platforms prioritize recent, specific information. Content with "Last Updated" dates, current statistics, and specific data points gets cited over generic, undated content. This applies to both your website content and your presence on platforms like Reddit and industry forums.
The brands winning in AI search are the ones continuously publishing specific, data-backed content rather than sitting on static pages. The investment in ongoing content is no longer optional. [2]
Platform Deep Dive
The Reddit Factor: Why Forum Presence Is Now a Search Strategy
In early 2024, Google struck a deal with Reddit and began dramatically elevating Reddit content in search results. Overnight, Reddit threads started outranking established websites for competitive queries. AI models followed suit, citing Reddit discussions as trusted community sources.
For businesses, this creates both a threat and an opportunity. The threat: someone on Reddit is already talking about your industry, your services, possibly even your company. If you're not participating in those conversations, you're letting others control the narrative.
The opportunity: authentic, helpful participation on Reddit builds the kind of third-party credibility that both Google and AI platforms reward. Reddit conversions are reportedly 23x higher than standard search because users arriving from Reddit have already been pre-sold by community endorsement. [4]
This doesn't mean spamming subreddits with promotional content. Reddit's community is notoriously hostile to overt marketing. It means genuinely helpful participation: answering questions, sharing expertise, contributing to discussions in a way that builds your brand's authority naturally. We build and execute these strategies for you.
Platforms We Optimize For
Important note
We never fake reviews, astroturf forums, or violate platform guidelines. Every engagement is authentic and transparent. The strategy works because it's genuine, not because it games the system.
Our Process
How We Build Your AI Search Presence
AI Visibility Audit
We analyze how your brand appears across every AI platform, search engine, social channel, and forum. Where are you cited? Where are you missing? Where are competitors winning?
Entity & Authority Mapping
AI models understand entities, not just keywords. We map your brand's entity relationships, identify authority gaps, and build a strategy to strengthen your digital footprint across the knowledge graph.
Content Architecture
We restructure and create content that AI platforms can extract, cite, and recommend. Structured data, semantic markup, extractable paragraphs, and authoritative sourcing built into every page.
Multi-Platform Optimization
Optimize your presence across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, and voice search simultaneously. One cohesive strategy, multiple surfaces.
Digital PR & Citation Building
Earn mentions in publications, forums, and platforms that AI models trust. Third-party credibility is now the strongest signal for AI citation. We build it systematically.
Measure & Iterate
Track AI citations, platform mentions, referral traffic from AI sources, and conversion attribution. Monthly reporting with clear metrics tied to revenue impact.
What's Included
Full-Spectrum AI Search Coverage
AI Overview Optimization
Structured content, schema markup, and authority signals specifically designed to earn citations in Google's AI Overview responses.
LLM Content Strategy
Content architecture that AI language models can extract, understand, and recommend to users asking for solutions in your industry.
Reddit & Forum Strategy
Authentic engagement strategy for Reddit, Quora, and industry forums. Community-driven content that builds trust and earns AI citations.
Generative Engine Optimization
Technical and content optimization for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude. Ensuring your brand is the answer when people ask AI for help.
Video & Social Search
Optimization for TikTok search, YouTube discovery, and social media platforms where your audience actively searches for services.
Entity & Knowledge Graph
Building and strengthening your brand's presence in knowledge graphs that AI models reference when generating responses.
Digital PR for AI Authority
Earned media placements in publications and platforms that carry weight with both search engines and AI models. Building the citations that matter.
Conversion Attribution
GA4-based tracking of AI referral traffic, citation tracking across platforms, and revenue attribution so you know exactly what's working.
Traditional SEO Isn't Dead. It's the Foundation.
There's a misconception floating around that AI search makes traditional SEO irrelevant. The opposite is true. Every AI platform pulls from web content. Sites with strong technical SEO, quality backlinks, and well-structured content are the ones AI models trust and cite.
Google's AI Overviews, for example, primarily cite pages that already rank well in traditional search. ChatGPT and Perplexity reference authoritative, well-optimized web content. Your existing SEO investment doesn't become less valuable in an AI-powered search landscape. It becomes the prerequisite for everything else.
AI Search Optimization doesn't replace your SEO strategy. It extends it. Think of traditional SEO as the engine. AI optimization is the fuel that makes it run across every surface where your customers search.
The Search Ecosystem
Technical SEO, content, backlinks, local optimization
Structured data, extractable content, entity optimization
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini citation building
Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, Quora, industry forums
Earned media, publications, third-party mentions
Industry Applications
AI Search for Your Industry
Home Services
- Optimize for "best HVAC company" in ChatGPT responses
- Build presence on r/HomeImprovement and local subreddits
- Google AI Overview citations for service-area queries
- YouTube and TikTok optimization for project showcases
- Review strategy that feeds AI recommendation engines
Medical & Aesthetics
- E-E-A-T compliance for AI health content citations
- Provider authority building across medical platforms
- Reddit r/PlasticSurgery and r/SkincareAddiction presence
- TikTok treatment education and discovery optimization
- Perplexity AI citations for "best [treatment] near me"
Legal
- AI citation for practice area legal questions
- Reddit r/legaladvice authority building
- Attorney entity optimization in knowledge graphs
- Legal resource content for AI-powered research tools
- Quora and Avvo presence for client acquisition
FAQ
Common Questions About AI Search
What is AI Search Optimization and how is it different from regular SEO?
AI Search Optimization (also called GEO, AIO, or Search Everywhere Optimization) goes beyond ranking on Google. It's about making your brand visible and cited across all platforms people use to find information: Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and voice assistants. Traditional SEO is one layer. AI Search Optimization is the full picture.
Is traditional SEO dead?
No. Traditional SEO is the foundation. Good technical SEO, quality content, and strong backlinks still matter. But they're no longer enough on their own. AI platforms pull from well-optimized sites, so strong SEO makes AI optimization more effective. Think of it as SEO being table stakes. AI optimization is what gives you the edge.
How do you get our brand cited in ChatGPT and Perplexity?
AI models cite sources they consider authoritative and relevant. We build that authority through a combination of structured content, earned media mentions, forum presence (Reddit, Quora), third-party reviews, and consistent entity signals. There's no shortcut. You earn citations through genuine authority.
Why does Reddit matter for AI search?
Reddit content is now heavily weighted by both Google and AI platforms. Google's recent algorithm updates elevated Reddit in search results, and AI models frequently cite Reddit discussions as trusted community sources. Having authentic, helpful presence on Reddit directly impacts your visibility across multiple platforms simultaneously.
How long does it take to see results?
AI search optimization is a compounding strategy. Initial improvements in structured data and content optimization can impact AI Overviews within 4-8 weeks. Broader results across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Reddit typically take 3-6 months of consistent work. Like SEO, the investment compounds over time.
How do you measure AI search performance?
We track AI platform citations, placement in AI-generated responses, referral traffic from AI sources (via GA4), Reddit and forum mention volume, brand search volume trends, and conversion attribution from AI-driven traffic. Monthly reports tie everything back to business outcomes.
Do we need to be on every platform?
No. We prioritize platforms based on where your customers actually search and where your industry has the most opportunity. A home services company and a med spa have very different platform priorities. We build a custom strategy based on your market and audience behavior.
What does this cost compared to traditional SEO?
AI Search Optimization is typically a complement to your existing SEO investment, not a replacement. Depending on scope and industry, it ranges from a focused add-on to a comprehensive multi-platform strategy. We build proposals around your specific situation and goals.
Sources & References
Find Out Where AI Ranks Your Brand
Get a free AI visibility audit. We'll show you how your brand appears across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Reddit, and the platforms that matter for your industry. No obligation. Just clarity.
Get Your Free AI Visibility Audit