TL;DR: How AI is Transforming Search for Entrepreneurs
AI is fundamentally reshaping search by using Large Language Models (LLMs) to deliver personalized, conversational answers directly in search results, reducing traffic to traditional websites.
• AI tools like Google’s AI Overviews and Bing Copilot dominate SERPs, decreasing organic click-through rates.
• Businesses must adapt by prioritizing AI-driven visibility over traditional SEO tactics.
• Strategies include optimizing for AI answers, creating authoritative content, and leveraging AI visibility tracking tools.
Adapt now to stay competitive in 2026. Explore tools like Semrush AI Visibility Tools to position your brand effectively in the AI-driven search ecosystem.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t merely an enhancement to search, it’s a complete shift in how users interact with information and companies adapt their strategies. By 2026, the changes are undeniable, and entrepreneurs who understand these shifts will be the ones to thrive in business. Having spent years navigating the startup ecosystem, I’ve seen firsthand how technology reshapes industries, and search is no exception. Here’s how to talk about this new era with executives and stakeholders and turn disruptions into opportunities.
What is happening to search in the AI era?
Search engines are no longer about static results based on keywords. AI-driven systems, such as Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, leverage Large Language Models (LLMs) to deliver personalized answers directly in search results. This paradigm eliminates the need for users to click through to traditional websites, leading to a decline in organic traffic and click-through rates. Let’s break this down:
- Google’s AI Overviews dominate SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), dramatically reducing reliance on organic blue links.
- AI-powered search tools like Gemini and Bing Copilot present summarized results without requiring user navigation.
- Search behavior is evolving, users respond better to conversational interfaces rather than traditional text-based search.
- For businesses, these changes mean fewer site visits but also increased competition for AI-driven visibility.
Executives need to understand this shift because it is reshaping SEO, marketing strategies, and brand visibility altogether. If your startup isn’t adapting now, you’re missing an opportunity to engage with the next wave of customers and technologies.
How to talk to executives about AI’s impact on search?
The biggest challenge for entrepreneurs is convincing leadership that changes in search behavior require proactive strategy shifts. This is a conversation that demands clarity, data, and solutions, not panic. Here are effective ways to structure the dialogue:
1. Highlight the shift in search behavior
Executives need to see how users interact with AI-driven search tools. Use clear data to show the following:
- Declining organic traffic due to AI-dominant SERPs.
- Reduced click-through rates (CTR), especially for traditionally high-performing keywords.
- The prevalence of AI summaries, which provide instant answers without generating traffic for traditional websites.
For instance, reports by Search Engine Land show up to a 61% drop in CTRs for queries that include AI-generated answers. Use these numbers to explain how AI isn’t just competing with search, it’s redefining it.
2. Connect declining SEO metrics to business impact
Leadership often cares deeply about numbers that reflect business health, revenue, leads, and sales, rather than metrics like rankings or impressions. Here’s how to transition from SEO jargon to tangible results:
- Show organic traffic losses in context with revenue changes.
- Define conversion drop-offs for pages with AI competition.
- Use year-over-year (YOY) data to isolate trends and identify the real impact versus seasonal patterns.
Present your Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster metrics visually to emphasize the connection between AI disruption and business revenue. For example, if high-value pages saw a CTR decline once AI summaries were introduced, it’s clear AI-driven search is influencing decisions.
3. Propose adaptive strategies for AI search visibility
- Invest strategically in AI-content optimization tools such as Semrush AI Visibility Tools.
- Build authority around topics AI cites, for example, by emphasizing structured, in-depth content that answers high-value queries.
- Experiment with “answer optimization” rather than traditional SEO tactics, ensuring brand mentions in AI responses.
- Broaden PR strategies to secure citations in online media sources often referenced by AI and LLM systems.
Executives rarely appreciate problems raised without solutions. Bring a roadmap that includes investments in AI visibility tracking tools and testing new content formats tailored to LLM discovery engines.
What mistakes should you avoid?
These are pitfalls I’ve seen entrepreneurs struggle with when adapting to AI’s impact on search:
- Playing the blame game: When organic metrics decline, blaming external factors without offering solutions is counterproductive.
- Ignoring LLM visibility: Optimizing solely for classic “blue link” rankings fails to address AI answers as the new visibility battleground.
- Failing to educate leadership: Don’t assume executives know how AI is disrupting search. Explain the mechanics and impacts clearly.
- Over-prioritizing keywords: Moving away from keyword stuffing and focusing on entity-driven content strategies is key to surviving AI search shifts.
If your data and proposals focus only on traditional replications of the old SEO model, you’ll lose valuable buy-in to experiment with new strategies.
How can you future-proof your strategy?
The shift to AI-driven search requires innovation and persistence. Here’s your game plan:
- Track AI visibility metrics: Measure brand presence in AI answers and across LLM platforms.
- Invest in thought leadership: Build authority content cited by both traditional search engines and conversational AI.
- Focus on user intent: Prioritize content that answers real questions, rather than competing for keywords in saturated searches.
- Experiment rapidly: Test new tools, formats, and AI-friendly approaches to discover where your brand fits in this new ecosystem.
- Collaborate across departments: Align marketing, PR, and analytics teams to ensure cohesive visibility efforts.
- Keep adapting: Remember, AI changes are ongoing. Revisit metrics monthly and adjust strategy accordingly.
Entrepreneurs who embrace the future of search, and guide leadership along the way, will find opportunities amid disruption. Success isn’t about resisting change; it’s about getting ahead of it.
Conclusion: Make AI work for your startup
AI’s integration into search is transforming not just how companies promote their offerings, but how users make decisions. Winning in this ecosystem requires a proactive mindset: educate your team, optimize your strategy, and embrace AI-driven visibility as the future of marketing. Entrepreneurs who take these steps now will be the ones thriving in 2026 and beyond.
Want to dive deeper? Explore resources like Search Engine Land or test cutting-edge tools for AI visibility.
FAQ on AI’s Impact on Search and Strategies for Businesses
1. How is AI changing search behavior?
AI is transforming search by offering personalized, direct answers through tools like Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. This shift reduces clicks on traditional websites and changes user interaction models. Learn more about AI search trends
2. What is the significance of AI Overviews in search engine results?
AI Overviews provide direct summaries on search results pages, bypassing traditional links and impacting click-through rates significantly. Google’s AI Overviews, for example, dominate search results and lead to declining organic traffic. Explore Google AI Overviews
3. How can businesses measure their brand presence in AI-driven search?
Businesses should track AI visibility using tools such as Semrush AI Visibility Tools, which provide data on brand mentions and citations across Large Language Models (LLMs). Discover Semrush AI Visibility Tools
4. What steps should entrepreneurs take to adapt to AI’s impact on SEO?
Entrepreneurs should shift from traditional keywords to entity-driven content strategies, embrace “answer optimization,” and focus on building authority on topics AI tools frequently cite. Learn about AI-focused SEO strategies
5. How can executives understand the business impact of declining click-through rates (CTR)?
Executives should analyze how reduced organic traffic translates to revenue decline using year-over-year performance data, revenue trends, and conversion losses. Read more about measuring AI’s business impact
6. What are the main mistakes businesses should avoid when adapting to AI search?
Avoid solely blaming external factors, ignoring AI and LLM visibility, underestimating changes in user intent, and over-prioritizing classic keyword optimization. Learn about common mistakes in AI search adaptation
7. What are the important metrics to track for SEO performance in the AI era?
New metrics include AI presence rate (frequency in AI responses), citation authority (reliability of sources), and response-to-conversion velocity (conversion rate from AI-influenced leads). Explore AI search metrics
8. Which tools can help businesses monitor AI-driven search outcomes?
Tools like Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster, and Exploding Topics can help analyze traffic, keywords, and other trends in both traditional SEO and evolving AI-driven search. Get started with Google Search Console
9. How will AI affect search volume by 2026?
Predictions suggest search engine volume could decrease by 25% by 2026 due to increasing user adoption of AI-powered search agents. Understand AI’s impact on search volume
10. How can businesses prepare for the future of AI-driven search?
To future-proof, businesses should focus on thought leadership, user-intent-driven content, cross-team collaboration, and tracking AI discovery engine visibility. Explore thought leadership strategies for AI search
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the “gamepreneurship” methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the point of view of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.