How AI search is changing how people find businesses

What's actually changed?

For twenty years, the process was the same. Someone types a query into Google, gets a list of blue links, clicks a few, and makes a decision. That's changing.

Now, a growing number of people ask AI tools their questions directly. "What's the best accountant in Bolton?" "How much does a new roof cost?" "Which restaurants in Didsbury are good for groups?" The AI reads hundreds of web pages, pulls out the relevant information, and gives a direct answer — often with specific business recommendations.

The user might never click through to your website at all. They get the answer in the AI's response. If your business isn't in that answer, you've lost the opportunity.

How do AI search tools decide what to recommend?

AI tools pull information from the open web. They're looking for content that is:

• Clear and specific — direct answers to direct questions, not vague marketing copy
• Well-structured — proper headings, organised sections, schema markup that machines can parse
• Credible — consistent information across your website, Google Business Profile, and review sites
• Genuinely useful — content that answers real questions, not keyword-stuffed filler

This is different from traditional SEO in one important way. Google ranks pages. AI tools extract answers. Your content needs to be written in a way that a machine can pull out a clean, accurate answer and attribute it to your business.

What is AEO and why should you care?

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation. It's the practice of structuring your website so that AI tools can find your content, understand it, and cite it when answering questions.

It's not a replacement for SEO. It builds on it. If your SEO is solid — fast site, clean structure, good content — you're already halfway there. AEO adds:

• Question-based content — organising your pages around the questions your customers actually ask
• Structured data — schema markup that tells machines exactly what your business does, where it is, and what services you offer
• Direct answers — leading each section with a clear, concise answer before expanding on it
• FAQ sections — properly marked up FAQs that AI tools can extract and quote directly

What does this mean for Google?

Google isn't going away. But Google itself is changing. AI Overviews now appear at the top of many search results — a generated summary that answers the query before showing any traditional links. This means fewer clicks on organic results, even if you rank well.

The businesses that still get clicks are the ones Google's AI cites in its overview. Getting cited there requires the same things as getting cited by ChatGPT or Perplexity: clear, well-structured, authoritative content.

Traditional "rank and hope for clicks" SEO is becoming less reliable. You need to be the source that AI tools reference, not just a result on a list.

Is this only relevant for big businesses?

No. In fact, smaller businesses can benefit more. Here's why.

AI tools value specificity. A solicitor's website that clearly explains "how long conveyancing takes in Greater Manchester" with real detail is more useful to an AI than a national law firm's generic conveyancing page. A cafe in Stockport with a proper HTML menu and clear opening hours is more citable than a chain restaurant with a flashy but vague website.

Small businesses that serve specific areas and answer specific questions have an advantage. The content is naturally focused and detailed — exactly what AI tools prefer.

What should you actually do about it?

You don't need to panic or rebuild everything. Here are the practical steps:

• Make sure your website loads fast — AI tools, like Google, prefer sites that are technically sound
• Write content that answers questions directly — don't bury the answer in the third paragraph. Lead with it.
• Use proper headings — H1 for the title, H2s for subtopics, structured like a conversation
• Add structured data — LocalBusiness schema, FAQ schema, service schema. This helps machines understand your content.
• Keep your Google Business Profile updated — AI tools cross-reference this with your website
• Build real content around real questions — what do your customers ask you on the phone? Write about that.

What happens if you ignore this?

Nothing dramatic. Not yet. Traditional search still works. Most of your customers still use Google the old way. But that's shifting, and it's shifting faster than most people realise.

The businesses that prepare now — structuring their content for both traditional and AI search — will have an advantage that compounds over time. The ones that wait will find themselves playing catch-up in a year or two when AI search is the default for a significant portion of their potential customers.

This isn't about chasing trends. It's about building a website that works for how people actually search today, not how they searched five years ago.