Heather McElrath
Founder, Sandbox Communications
Introduction: A New Frontier for Your Brand
As a founder, you’ve mastered the art of wearing multiple hats: CEO, marketer, visionary. You’ve likely spent years understanding how to make your brand visible on platforms like Google. But the digital landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation since search engines were born, and it’s happening fast.
A recent Gartner report predicts that by 2026, the traditional search engine traffic we rely on will drop by a staggering 25%. Why? Because customers are starting to ask AI chatbots for answers instead of sifting through Google results. This isn’t just another trend; it’s a seismic shift in how people find and connect with businesses.
For entrepreneurs who have poured their energy into mastering SEO, this can feel daunting. But here’s the exciting part: for those of us who adapt early, this new frontier offers a powerful opportunity to build authority, earn trust, and position our brands as leaders. The question isn’t if this will impact your business, but how you’ll prepare to lead the charge.
What’s So Different About AI Search?
Think of traditional Google as a library index; it gives you a list of books (websites), and you have to go read them yourself to find the answer.
AI search, using Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, is completely different. It’s like asking a brilliant, super-fast librarian to read all the relevant books for you and then write a single, comprehensive summary answering your exact question.
- The Old Journey: Query → Scan 10 blue links → Click a link → Read content → Go back and click another link.
- The New Journey: Query → Get one synthesized answer → Ask a follow-up question if needed.
This change is profound. Instead of competing for a click on a results page, your brand now needs to be influential enough to be mentioned and cited within that final AI-generated answer. The game has shifted from getting traffic to becoming a trusted source for the AI itself.
Not All AI Is the Same: A Quick Guide for Founders
Understanding where these AI tools get their information is key to your strategy. Broadly, they fall into two camps:
- The ‘Frozen in Time’ AIs (Static LLMs): Think of tools like the free version of ChatGPT or Claude. They were trained on a massive snapshot of the internet that has a specific cut-off date. They don’t know what happened last week.
- What This Means for You: Your brand’s long-term reputation and the foundational content you’ve created over the years are critical. If your business became a leader after the AI was trained, you might be invisible. This is all about building a legacy of expertise that stands the test of time.
- The ‘Live on the Web’ AIs (Search-Augmented LLMs): Tools like Perplexity, Gemini (formerly Bard), and ChatGPT Plus are connected to the live internet. They can search for current information to answer questions.
- What This Means for You: Your day-to-day marketing, PR, and content efforts still matter immensely! Good old-fashioned SEO helps these AIs find and trust your content. The key is to create content that is not only high-ranking but also crystal clear, well-structured, and easy for an AI to digest and synthesize.
Your Action Plan: How to Build Visibility in the AI Era
Building a brand that AI loves doesn’t require a computer science degree. It requires a strategic approach that combines smart technical foundations with authentic brand building.
Step 1: Make Your Website AI-Friendly
First things first, you need to ensure the AI “bots” that crawl the web for information can easily access and understand your site. Think of it as rolling out a digital welcome mat.
Your web developer can help ensure that bots like GPTBot, PerplexityBot, and Claude-Web aren’t being blocked. More importantly, a clean site structure and the use of schema markup (a type of code that explains your content to search engines) make it effortless for AI to understand what your business does, who you are, and why you’re an authority.
Step 2: Define Your Brand’s Digital Identity (Become an “Entity”)
In the world of AI, an “entity” is a person, a place, or a business that the AI understands as a distinct concept. Your goal is to make your brand a strong, trusted entity.
Think of it as building your brand’s official resume for the entire internet.
- Solidify Your Story on Trusted Platforms: Is your business accurately represented on key knowledge bases like Wikipedia and Wikidata?
- Claim Your Digital Real Estate: Have you claimed and optimized your Google Business Profile? This is a powerful sign of authority.
- Be Consistent: Use the same name, descriptions, and details about your company everywhere to avoid confusing the AI.
Step 3: Leverage Your Superpower: Storytelling & Community
Here is where women entrepreneurs have a distinct advantage. AIs are trying to understand not just facts, but also context, reputation, and trust. Your ability to build a narrative and a loyal community is now a core technical asset.
- Expertise in Your Voice: Publish content that showcases your unique perspective. Your authentic voice helps AI differentiate you from generic content.
- Third-Party Validation: Encourage reviews, testimonials, case studies, and media mentions. When other trusted sources talk about you, it signals to AI that your brand is legitimate and respected.
- Answer the Questions: Create clear, comprehensive content that directly answers the questions your customers are asking. This makes your information perfect for an AI to quote and reference.
Step 4: Go Direct: Engage with AI Platforms
New opportunities are emerging to build your presence directly on these platforms.
- Custom GPTs: You can create a specialized version of ChatGPT trained on your brand’s knowledge. Imagine a customer service bot or a brand guide that lives right inside the most popular AI tool on the planet.
- Perplexity Pages: This platform allows you to create and publish authoritative guides, positioning you as an expert directly within its ecosystem.
How to Know If It’s Working
The old metrics aren’t enough. While you can still track referral traffic from sources like chat.openai.com or perplexity.ai in Google Analytics, much of your impact will be “no-click.” Your brand might be mentioned without the user ever visiting your site.
- The New KPI is Influence: Regularly ask different AI tools questions related to your industry, your products, and your competitors. Are you being mentioned? How is your brand described? This is your new “share of voice.”
- Monitor Your Narrative: Keep an eye on how your brand’s story is being told by AI. If it’s inaccurate, it’s a sign you need to strengthen your “entity” and publish clearer content.
Conclusion: Your Invitation to Lead
The shift from search engine to AI “answer engine” is a fundamental change in how your future customers will discover you. The brands that will thrive are not the ones with the trickiest SEO hacks, but the ones with the clearest story, the strongest reputation, and the most authority.
This is an arena where the skills you’ve honed as a founder, storytelling, building community, establishing genuine expertise, and fostering trust, are now the most valuable assets you have.
The 25% drop in search volume is a wake-up call. Don’t wait for your traffic to decline. Start experimenting now. Start building your brand’s AI-ready foundation today to lead through the shift.
