Imagine you work in IT searching for a digital service desk platform—say, to help employees reset passwords or onboard new hires. Using Google’s AI Mode, you get a detailed list of companies, pricing, and ideal uses, along with over a dozen cited websites. Yet, the first source, Zendesk, leads you to a suspicious blog: a "comprehensive breakdown" of service desks written by Zendesk itself, which unsurprisingly ranks Zendesk as the best. Similarly, Freshworks links to its own list where it promotes Freshservice as the top choice, showing only one con while competitors have more. Other companies follow this pattern—Eesel favors Eesel AI, Watermelon prefers Watermelon, Help Scout ranks itself highest, and so on. These self-serving "best of" lists pervade numerous industries, including social media tools and activewear. Google’s algorithm likely favors such pages for their clear format and structure. In response to concerns about manipulation, a Google spokesperson, Jennifer Kutz, stated that Google applies strong protections against abuse but acknowledges the prevalence of low-quality listicles. Google's advice to content creators remains focused on making content understandable and user-centric. Marketers have long exploited filler webpages to attract search engines, and as the web evolves, so do manipulation tactics. The rise of AI-powered search has disrupted the SEO industry. Google now integrates AI-generated content that summarizes information instead of merely ranking links. Consequently, search results increasingly surface content from blogs, news, and niche forums like Reddit rather than just large websites. Some users also turn to chatbots like ChatGPT for searches they once did on traditional engines. This behavior shift threatens publishers reliant on Google traffic, while Google continuously updates its algorithms to combat manipulation. Nevertheless, AI opens new opportunities and challenges for SEO. New trends in SEO include firms promising AI chatbot brand mentions and producing self-promoting listicles (sometimes ranking themselves as best). The SEO community has historically operated amid uncertainty, and AI introduces more complexity, enabling spammers and less credible actors. Britney Muller, an SEO expert now at Orange Labs, highlights the pressure to measure SEO’s effectiveness amid these changes. For example, a BBC reporter tricked ChatGPT and others into falsely proclaiming him a hot dog eating champion by seeding the claim online, showing how biased listicles exploit real-time web searches used by AI systems. However, Muller sees such issues as search engine retrieval problems that Google will eventually resolve. Meanwhile, marketers continue experimenting. Microsoft warned against “recommendation poisoning, ” where hidden prompts in "Summarize with AI" buttons instruct AI to favor certain domains or brands. Such tactics raise ethical and security concerns, as LLMs can’t distinguish between legitimate and malicious instructions.

Some firms have invested heavily in AI agents tasked with researching queries, creating content, and acquiring backlinks to dominate AI search results, reflecting a “gold rush” mentality, according to SEO expert Rand Fishkin. Muller describes current SEO as “upside down, ” mirroring confusion across the AI industry, with many new buzzwords like AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) promising improved AI visibility. She warns against overpromising AI influence on results, cautioning that many marketing claims may lead to failure. Nevertheless, the way people search and how results display are rapidly evolving. In February, a viral blog post claimed major tech media outlets lost 58% of their Google traffic since 2024, attributing declines to AI Overviews in Google results, Reddit’s higher ranking, and chatbot use. The report, produced by SEO firm Growtika, portrays a dire search landscape and urges brands to adapt, noting competitors are gaining AI citations while others lag. Growtika's cofounder, Asaf Fybish, stresses AI visibility remains hard to measure and traditional SEO still matters, though now search spans many platforms. The report also generated both attention and skepticism, with critics calling its figures inaccurate. The Verge’s publisher acknowledged declines but warned of overreliance on SEO junk content by some competitors. Mike Micucci, CEO of Fabric, highlighted how AI search is becoming a priority for brands, especially in e-commerce. Fabric’s AI tool Neon runs numerous synthetic prompts to track how often retailers are recommended by LLMs compared to rivals, advising updates to product pages and underlying data. Despite visions of AI-driven shopping directly through chatbots, many users research with AI but complete purchases on retailer sites. Some planned features, like making purchases in ChatGPT, have been scaled back due to limited user adoption. Rand Fishkin warns that while AI search gets massive hype, actual usage lags behind traditional search engines like Amazon, Bing, and YouTube. He fears overinvestment driven by executive and media mania. Experts note traditional SEO and AI mentions correlate, but now unlinked third-party mentions in forums and social media may matter more than backlinks. Marketers increasingly monitor conversations on Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, and more, focusing on softer engagement metrics previously ignored. Research firm Gartner forecasts brands will double PR and earned media budgets by 2027 to boost “answer engine visibility, ” emphasizing the importance of third-party coverage. In January, OpenAI introduced ads in ChatGPT, showcasing sponsored product listings related to user queries. While promising ads won’t affect AI answers or share user conversations with advertisers, backlash followed due to intrusive, suspect ads. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has touted AI’s revolutionary potential, but users reacted negatively to ads invading the chatbot’s previously private feel. Competitors like Anthropic criticized OpenAI’s approach, pledging ad-free experiences. OpenAI responded that advertisers receive aggregated metrics while user privacy is protected. The intimacy users feel with AI chatbots creates unique challenges. Semrush’s CMO Andrew Warden emphasizes marketers’ “duty of care” in this space, acknowledging the potential for disorientation but also the exciting opportunities AI brings. Overall, AI search is transforming how information is found and monetized, fueling innovation and disruption amidst uncertainty and new risks. Marketers, platforms, and users alike must navigate these evolving dynamics carefully. — Update (April 6th): Added Britney Muller’s current role at Orange Labs.