You know it as well as I do; we’re undergoing a significant platform shift. But there’s a fundamental difference between this AI shift and the changes that have come before. Let me explain.
Simplistically, we could break down the history of recent technology-based platform shifts like this;
First, we got the internet. Then, search engines appeared to help websites get found.
Then, we got social media. And social graphs helped people get found.
Next, there was mobile. And app stores were invented to help apps get discovered.
Now, we have AI. And…nothing.
For the first time, a significant technological shift is here, without any accompanying change to distribution. And, it’s creating one of the most fundamental shifts in marketing.
So, what happens now?
Traffic is Disappearing — And AI Is Deciding Who Gets Seen
Sixty per cent of Google searches now end without a click.
And the next generation of search, powered by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews, doesn’t link to your website. In fact, websites are fast becoming information repositories for AI to crawl.
Nothing highlights this quite like this data from Cloudflare:
10 years ago: Google crawled 2 pages per visitor
6 months ago: Google 6:1, OpenAI 250:1, Anthropic 6,000:1
Now: Google 18:1, OpenAI 1,500:1, Anthropic 60,000:1
Great for the consumer, for sure. They get relevant information without the pain of multiple blue links. But for business, it’s turning everything we have come to rely upon for digital marketing (clicks, traffic and conversion) on its head.
So, if websites are increasingly getting aggregated away and pushed further down the funnel, how do we get discovered?
Whilst AI can sometimes seem unpredictable (and it is), there is at least one truism. LLM’s work is based on prediction. Their answers are based on what word is most likely to come next in a sentence. That means, if your business is regularly mentioned as part of a problem space or category, like “best CRM for startups”, then you will be cited in AI answers and overviews.
The thing that I find exciting is that increasingly, those answers are trained on public discourse: Reddit threads, YouTube videos, Substacks, and now, even LinkedIn and Instagram content.
But here’s the disconnect:
Most marketers are racing to create faster content, not increase visibility. We’re optimising output, but AI is optimising for context and citations.
That needs to change.
Data consistently shows that content creation is the primary use of AI. Whilst that’s not necessarily bad, it shows that again, as marketers, we have a bias towards quick win tactics, as opposed to seeing the bigger picture.
Source: https://foundationinc.co/lab/ai-marketing-results/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Only 30% cite “Strategy” as part of the use for AI tools. That’s a huge missed opportunity.
AI isn’t just here to speed up content creation. That’s table stakes. It’s replacing the channels we have relied upon to get our brands discovered. And if we don’t understand how our brands get found by AI, we risk becoming invisible, no matter how fast we ship content.
AI Is Becoming the New Front Door
Search is shifting from link-based to language-based. That means:
People ask Perplexity for the best CRM for solopreneurs
They ask ChatGPT for the tools creators are using for video editing
They ask Google’s AI Overviews how to scale a podcast.
And here’s the catch: AI doesn’t link to your website unless you’re already mentioned by a human, in public and in the right context.
And amidst all this, YouTube may be the secret weapon.
YouTube, long known as the world’s second-largest search engine, is quietly becoming one of the most valuable.
According to Datos, YouTube searches per user have nearly tripled YoY.
Still behind Google in volume, yes. But miles ahead in intent.
This spike in YouTube search occurred around the same time as the launch of GPT4 and AI Overviews.
Coincidence? Maybe. But I’d argue it reflects something deeper:
People still want real, human guidance. They want to learn from people who’ve done it, not just read an auto-summarised snippet. And YouTube’s ‘how-to’ culture delivers exactly that: useful, authentic, face-to-face knowledge.
This is why YouTube plays such a unique role in the emerging landscape of “search everywhere optimisation.”
"Search everywhere optimisation" is about ensuring your brand surfaces in every AI-readable space, from Reddit to Reels, from YouTube tutorials to community conversations.
YouTube is one of the few platforms where that distribution compounds. Because your content isn’t just surfaced by YouTube’s algo, it’s also indexed by Google, and increasingly used as training data for LLMs.
To stay visible in this new era of AI-informed discovery and demand, focus on three strategic shifts:
1. Influence the surfaces AI learns from
Get mentioned on Reddit, Quora, YouTube, Product Hunt
Get featured on important, high-authority industry websites
As LinkedIn and Instagram content continues to be crawled and cited by AI, create problem-aware content that has search terms in mind.
2. Rethink creator marketing as AI optimisation
Collaborating with influencers has never been more crucial. I don't mean 'influencers' in the traditional sense, but practitioners, experts and operators. People who own 'belief', not just attention.
Help experts share specific use cases in public ways. These creators teach the internet how your product works, and LLMs absorb these examples to recommend tools contextually.
That means the content you publish, or co-create with trusted creators, doesn’t just help you get discovered now, it influences future demand across multiple surfaces. Now that’s what I call leverage.
3. Optimise towards ‘word of mouth’ growth
Marketing should not live in a silo, and the more we can empower our business to understand that, the better.
Every touchpoint should drive some form of public statement. Perhaps a customer had a great experience; make sure they leave a review. Perhaps your sales team are constantly coaching customers through a common challenge; get them to share that on LinkedIn. If you've seen a creator talk about something you also believe in, invite them to be a guest on your podcast.
Search no longer lives in one box. It’s happening across YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, WhatsApp groups, private communities, and LinkedIn feeds. And the most effective way to show up in that world? Word of mouth
So, if you're planning your marketing strategy, stop thinking in terms of keywords or clicks. Start thinking in 'influence'.
We're not just fighting for clicks anymore; we're fighting for inclusion in the AI summary. That means we need to move beyond chasing impressions, output volume and copywriting shortcuts and start thinking about where AI is looking, who gets cited and what conversations it learns from
[Ad] I’m teaming up with HubSpot again (as there are few businesses better to learn from here) to explore this exact shift in the AI & Demand 2025 Masterclass.
We’ll cover:
How AI is changing the way buyers discover solutions
What marketers must do to stay relevant
How do we capture demand amidst this platform shift
The session won't be recorded, so this one you won’t want to miss.
👉 Reserve your seat here:
https://hubs.la/Q03tNXkD0
I’d love to hear any thoughts from you and how you are navigating this shift.
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