The digital landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation since the invention of the search engine. I’ve been working in digital marketing since 1995 and have witnessed the gradual evolution of tools and platforms, including social media networks and search engines. People took their time adapting to the platforms. Not so with the Answer Engines.
What Makes the AI Search Evolution Different?
Head-spinning velocity. Throughout my years in this business, I have never seen technology change and grow in usage as quickly as it has now. Besides that, the AI Answer Bots are making it easy for people to use them!
For small business owners—whether you run a neighborhood boutique, an online shop, or a consultancy—the rules of “getting found” have changed. In 2026, marketing will no longer be just about ranking #1 on Google. It will be about being the trusted answer provided by AI. This shift is called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) or Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), among other terms.
The New Reality: How People Search in 2026
Search is no longer a straight line from “chiropractor near me” to a click. It is now a fragmented journey where searchers bounce between social media, community forums, and AI assistants.
37% of consumers start searches with AI instead of Google
Search Engine Land
- The “Crocodile Mouth” Effect: You may notice your “impressions” (the number of people who see your brand) are increasing, while your “clicks” are decreasing. This happens because AI tools answer questions directly, so users don’t always need to visit your website unless they need what you have to offer or have additional questions.
- Conversational Discovery: People are asking complex, real human questions. AI evaluates these intents and summarizes information from multiple sources to give one clear answer.
- Local Shifts: For local businesses, “Ask Maps” has replaced Google Business Profile Q&A. For instance, someone may ask, “What’s the best storage facility in (insert location) where I can store a 3-bedroom house temporarily?” directly into their Google Maps. It then scans the web — everywhere — for reviews, recommendations, and mentions of your business.
Understanding the AI Tools
ChatGPT: This is the most popular “answer engine,” currently holding a massive share of AI referral traffic. It prioritizes extremely fresh content—often citing information that is newer than standard Google results. It is also moving toward “agentic” search, meaning it can eventually find a product and purchase it for a user. (By the way, Microsoft’s Bing Copilot uses ChatGPT)
Perplexity: A hybrid tool that acts like a conversational search engine. It is highly valued for real-time research because it provides clear citations and links to the sources it uses. Their browser, Comet, is an incredible tool for analyzing data and reporting fast. Recently, I took the analytics reports from the Google Search Console and came up with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) using Perplexity’s Comet browser.
Google Gemini & AI Overviews (AIO): Gemini is the AI model that powers Google’s algorithm. AI Overviews are the summaries you see at the top of Google search results. These behave like traditional search but prioritize “answer-ready” content from your website.
The Role of Reddit, Community Forums, and Social Networks
AI models don’t just read websites. They collect not only data that’s on the Internet, but it picks up posts, conversations, and comments that people post on Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Quora. AI cites Reddit often (up to 30% of the time) because it craves authentic, human perspectives that corporate websites often lack. (Source)
Related: What do the New SEO ACRONYMS Mean? Decoding the Abbreviations of AI SEARCH
Actionable Steps To Get Cited Now
AI doesn’t just “crawl” your site; it tries to understand and reason with it. Remember, it’s “machine learning”. Thus, you need to feed it fresh, trustworthy content, not stale, and definitely not vague. Think…
What does your content, wherever it appears, communicate about your trustworthiness?
Website and Content Structure
- Short and Precise Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Break your content into clear, topical, self-contained blocks that can stand alone if extracted by an AI. However, don’t put all your FAQs on one page. Add FAQs to blog posts and pages.
- Put Questions in Headings: Use H2 or H3 heading tags for your questions (e.g., “How do I choose the right-sized storage space?”) followed by short, direct, factual answers.
- Tables and Lists: AI loves structured data. Use tables for comparisons and bulleted lists for steps, data, or features.
- Find Content Gaps: AI tools can help you find content gaps on your website. That is, any topic that is missing from your blog content. Using any of them (Gemini, ChatGPT, or Perplexity), upload a CSV file of your sitemap. Then, ask it to analyze the content and find any gaps. Your sitemap is simply an index of all your pages and blog posts. Depending on your website platform, an SEO tool can retrieve it for you.
- Don’t Just Research Keywords. Type common customer questions into ChatGPT and Perplexity. If your business isn’t mentioned, see which competitors are, and analyze their content structure to see what you’re missing.
- Keep Content Fresh: AI assistants look for the freshest, most accurate information. Add “Last Updated” dates to your pages and ensure product inventory, availability, or service details are current. Your blog’s archive page and individual posts should also include dates. Yes, that means you need to blog weekly.
More than likely, you won’t have to completely redo your website, and you don’t need a big budget. Just reformat the content and optimize it for the AI bots. Most importantly, write and structure your site for your human potential customer first, but keep the AI Answer Bot in mind. In other words, don’t forgo the User Experience, which leads to conversions, to get noticed by AI.
Amplify E-E-A-T
Both Google and AI models prioritize Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). I’ve written about this extensively in past issues of MSM.
- Your Company Story: Clearly state your founding date, location, leadership, team, core values, and unique mission in your “About” page, so AI can “map” who you are.
- Authorship: Create detailed Author and About Pages with bios and links to each team member’s LinkedIn profile to provide credibility, authority, and trustworthiness
Optimize Everything
Optimize Your Google Business Profile (GBP): For local businesses, this is your most important asset. Double down on review acquisition. AI looks at your reviews and attributes to answer user questions in “Ask Maps”. Ask Maps will get information from your website as well. Make sure all your blog posts get posted to your GBP as soon as they are published. Use a tool like Dlvr.it.
Social Media Posts
It’s no longer solely about engagement on social media. It’s about sharing posts with substance. You have the space on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Use it! Consistently use your major keywords in your text posts, captions, and video scripts. Short-form, vertical videos (TikToks/Reels/YouTube Shorts) are grabbed by Google to provide visual answers in search results. On X, you can have more character space if you upgrade to Pro.
The Word for 2026 is Clarity
Clear, precise, and reliable answers will win the most customers.
In closing, I want to quote one of my sources, Ben Harper, author of “The Answer Engine Playbook.”
“Think of traditional SEO like a library where you hope someone picks your book off a shelf of thousands. AI search is like a helpful librarian who has read every book and gives the customer a summary. To be recommended, your “book” doesn’t need to be the biggest or loudest—it just needs to have the clearest table of contents and the most reliable facts so the librarian can trust what they’re saying.”
Ben Harper, author of “The Answer Engine Playbook.”
How I used AI to write this article: I had 44 sources of blog posts, videos, and PDFs to analyze, study, and then compose the article. It would have taken me days to go through everything. (Like I used to do in prior years!) This year, I uploaded them to Google’s NotebookLM, and I had an article in less than a minute. Now, I did have to edit it and add my own E-E-A-T. Never post an AI-written article verbatim. Google knows. If you want to learn how to use all these cool tools and get a free analysis, book a free consultation.
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