For a long time, winning visibility online meant climbing to the top of Google’s search rankings through keyword-packed articles, backlinks, and SEO tricks. But today, AI-powered search engines and assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Google’s AI Overviews are changing how people discover brands. Perhaps you’ve noticed a concerning drop in website traffic and you’re wondering why new people no long discover you on google.

Many businesses still rely on search visibility to showcase professionalism, connect with new audiences and attract new clients. And a drop in traffic means reduced visibility, less leads and declining business opportunities.

Today, the battle ground has shifted from traditional search engine algoriths to AI search. It’s a swim or sink situation for businesses as the transition takes full effect. In this article, we break down the new rules for online visibility and digital PR. But first, let us look at a timelime of critical events that reshaped how people discover brands online:

A timeline of Critical Events in AI World

Since the global adoption of AI, things have changed rapidly with big tech companies racing to dominate the exciting AI world. Subsequently, businesses are forced to adapt quickly or risk dissappearing from search results. Here’s a breakdown of critical events, starting from November, 2022:

Data	Event	What Changed & Why It Matters for Brand Visibility
November 2022	OpenAI launches ChatGPT	ChatGPT reached 1 million users in just 5 days and over 100 million monthly active users by January 2023, making it one of the fastest-growing consumer applications in history. This moment marked the mainstream breakthrough of conversational AI.
Early 2023	AI intergration into Search platforms.	Microsoft integrated GPT into Bing Chat and later into its Copilot suite (Word, Excel, Teams). Google announced Bard (later renamed Gemini). These moves signaled that AI chat was becoming a standard feature of search and productivity tools.
Mid to late 2023	Explosion of global AI use	Additional companies began releasing more AI tools into the global market. These include, Anthropic (Claude), Perplexity AI, and Meta (LLaMA). AI assistants began embedding into browsers, smartphones, and social platforms, normalizing usage across industries.
Late 2023 to early 2024	Experiments & gradual rollout of AI Overviews for limited audiences	Google was testing, collecting feedback. It was a silent and muted shift from traditional search results and ranking. There were signals that the way people find content is going to shift.
July 2024	ChatGPT adds citations and “ChatGPT Search”. Real-time web search with citation support” begins rolling out.	This was a big step leap from “just generating answers”, to linking out to the source. This made content quality, transparency, source reputation much more important. It also meant linked sources began attracting direct traffic from chatgpt.
May 2024	Google rebrands SGE to AI Overviews, launches it more broadly in the U.S.	This shifted things from experiment to a mainstream feature. More queries are answered directly and more users see summaries leading to a drop in “clicks” on traditional organic search results.
March 2025	Google began testing AI Mode, an experimental version of search results which suppresses or reduces traditional blue-link results and emphasizes AI-generated answers.	This is a more direct displacement of traditional search visibility. If this mode becomes dominant or many users adopt it, many brands will have to optimize content not just for ranking but for inclusion in AI summaries, or risk being “invisible” in parts of the search experience.
Mid 2025	Widespread reports and evidence of large declines in organic traffic and click-through rates when AI Overviews are present.	High ranking no longer guarantees traffic Content format, authoritativeness, AI citation, how well content answers questions matters more. Also, AI optimized brands are seeing an increase in traffic from AI platforms.

What is the Impact of AI on SEO?

From early 2025, many websites across the world have reported a significant drop in organic traffic and click-through rates. Even when a website has a good ranking and thousands of impressions, these do not translate to website visits. When AI overviews appear on top of other results, only 8% of searchers end up clicking links compared to 15% of searchers who click links with traditional results. Here are the key highlights to note:

• AI overviews include a sidebar of top cited articles with links. Articles or websites appearing on the side bar enjoy higher click through rates than high ranking websites that are not cited or placed on the sidebar.
• AI is taking over as a leading source of traffic for websites. People are discovering brands, products and services through conversations with their AI apps. Additionally, AI optimized websites are receiving additional traffic from AI platforms.
• Local SEO and Technical SEO are still important and are not as affected by AI.
• Ecommerce websites are also still benefitting from traditional SEO. However, there is no harm in optimizing such sites for additional AI traffic.
• While traditional search engines like Google still dominate search traffic, the gap is slowly closing.

This means businesses have to shift from traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics to Artificial Intelligence Search Optimization (AISO) to win the game.

What is AI Search?

AI Search refers to the use of artificial intelligence models to sift through a wide range of content sources, understand the content, process it, and respond to user queries in natural language. In contrast, traditional search engines display a list of links, based on relevant keywords in a user’s query. AI platforms:

• Summarize multiple sources into direct answers.
• Personalize results to match user’s needs and context.
• Engage in back-and-forth conversations.

Examples include ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta’s AI search tools.

Why AI Search Matters for Brand Visibility

AI search is changing how people research, shop, and choose brands.

Instead of scanning through ten websites, users can simply chat with the Meta AI, for instance, on their WhatsApp app and ask for solutions such as:

• “I’m planning to buy my first home in Kenya, what’s the best affordable housing developer in Kenya and what makes them the best?”
• “My birthday is coming up in two weeks, and I want to try out chinese food. Which restaurants would you recommend?”

AI platforms do not just list websites, they scan through websites, select and summarize the most trustworthy and relevant content. If your brand isn’t in those summaries, you’re invisible.

AI Users in Kenya

As of July 2025, Kenya was leading globally when it comes to use of AI tools, according to the Digital 2025 July Global Statshot Report by Data Reportal. 42.1% of internet connected users in Kenya aged 16 and above were using OpenAI’s ChatGPT, signaling widespread adoption of AI in the country. Kenya topped the globe in ChatGPT use, with these numbers. UAE followed closely at 42.0%.

These statistics, undoubtedly paint a picture of a country that is eager to use AI. Brands operating in Kenya or targeting Kenyans should be at the forefront in optimizing for AI.

From SEO to AIO (AI Optimization)

If your company’s website was previously optimized for traditional SEO, you may still continue to rank high on Google. However, AI models are looking for a different kind of optimization.

Old Playbook (SEO-driven)

• Keyword driven: Stuffing articles with keywords did the trick in most cases. Google crawlers prioritized keyword density as a sign of relevance.
• Building backlinks to rank higher. This was a great way to showcase authority.
• Optimizing meta tags for Google crawlers.

New Playbook (AI Search Optimization)

AI optimization has a simple cheat code summarized as EEAT. This stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. In addition, keyword stuffing has been replaced by content structures that are easy for AI to crawl. Here are some new rules to pay attention to:

• AI is looking for authoritative content that demonstrates expertise and credibility in your industry. Beyond basic “how-to” and “listicles”, your content has to provide indepth answers.
• Sentence and paragraph structures are more important than ever. AI needs to deliver content fast and so it looks for structured, factual, and people-centered writing that it can easily pull from.
• Clear answers to common industry questions.
• Link building is now replaced by reputation building across platforms. Traditional digital PR efforts such as reviews, brand mentions in authoritative websites and PR or media coverage demonstrate expertise and authority.
• Experience is as simple as, how long you’ve been in your industry. AI can pull this information from different areas in your website, media mentions or social media.

In short, AI is not looking for keywords. It is rewarding well-researched useful content, plus strategic digital PR.

Related:

Beyond the Press Release: Emerging PR Trends and Technologies in Kenya

How to Optimize for AI Search

By now, if your company’s digital PR is working, you should be seeing a spike in traffic from AI sources. If your traffic is dropping or coming from traditional sources only, you are risking invisibility. To ensure your brand shows up in AI-driven search answers:

1. Create People-First Content
   • Write articles, blogs, and reports that provide unique value. While many brands have abandoned blogs, there is a huge demand for content, from AI platforms. But the content needs to go beyond the basics.
   • Edit old content, to fit new rules on structure and clarity.
   • Use clear definitions, statistics, and examples.
2. Establish Brand Authority
   • Secure brand mentions and quotes in other authoritative websites, especially mainstream media websites.
   • You can publish opinion pieces or get featured by media brands with an authoritative digital presence.
   • Get cited in industry publications which may include academic publications or institutions.
   • Encourage customer reviews and testimonials.
3. Leverage PR & Digital Mentions
   • If other brands are mentioning you, AI treats that as credibility. Seek brand mentions across multiple authoritative platforms, including social media.
4. Update Frequently
   • AI tools value recent, relevant, and reliable information.

Summary

AI is shifting the way people discover brands, products and services. Ranking on Google is no longer the ultimate goal. If AI does not know or recognize your brand as an authority in your industry, you are missing out on a large audience. The game has changed and the rules are clear. It’s time to shift from SEO to AISO.

FAQ: AI Search Optimization Vs SEO

1. What is AI Search Optimization (AISO)?
AI Search Optimization is a form of Digital Marketing and Digital PR that entails creating content and curating a digital brand presence that is easily discoverable and trustworthy to AI-powered search engines and assistants.

2. How is AIO different from traditional SEO?
In traditional SEO, the goal is to rank high on popular search engines such as Google and Bing by adhering to a set of rules that appeal to the search engine’s algorithms and ranking systems. AISO is people centered and it focuses on creating readable, trustworthy, unique and valuable enough content for AI to quote and cite directly in answers, which in return increases a brand’s visibility to AI users.

3. Does SEO still matter for businesses in Kenya?
While traditional SEO is still important, especially Local and Technical SEO, Search Engine Marketing is changing with the rise of Google’s AI Overviews and AI search platforms like ChatGPT Search. Businesses need to combine SEO and AISO (AI Search Optimization) to stay visible. Today, people are more likely to find a brand through AI overviews or AI chat platforms. It is therefore highly advisable to start investing in AISO, LLM Seeding and perhaps slow down on outdated SEO strategies like keyword staffing and link building.

4. How can my brand appear in AI search results?
Start by publishing high-quality, well-structured, unique content frequently and work on building authority in your industry, by ensuring your brand is mentioned across credible platforms and your expertise is clearly demonstrated online. You can work with an AISO expert to increase visibity on AI platforms.

5. Can small businesses benefit from AI Search Optimization?
Yes. the rise of AI search is an opportunity for small businesses to shine. Although AI values authority and expertise, it doesn’t just pull content from big brands. It rewards brands that provide helpful answers. Small businesses can compete by producing high quality content that builds their authority while working on digital PR to demonstrate authority and credibility.

Did you find this article insightful? Reach out to discuss more about your Digital PR needs.