The real shift: you’re not just marketing to humans anymore
Scan those headlines and a pattern jumps out: everyone’s talking about AI search, AI overviews, LLM SEO, entity-based SEO, “fresh content,” and the death (again) of organic reach.
Underneath the noise is one signal that matters for performance marketers and media buyers:
your growth now depends on how well you feed and shape the models that sit between you and demand.
Not “AI” in the abstract. Very specific models:
- Google’s AI Overviews and “AI Mode” answers
- LLM-powered search and assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc.)
- Social feeds and recommendation engines that are increasingly AI-first
The game is no longer just “rank a page” or “win an auction.” It’s:
become the default answer the model gives when your category comes up.
Why “fresh content” suddenly matters again (for real this time)
“Publish more content” has been bad advice for a decade. But in the AI search era, freshness is not about volume; it’s about recency signals to models.
Look at the headlines:
- “Fresh Content: Why Publish Dates Make or Break Rankings and AI Visibility”
- “Localized SEO for LLMs: How Best Practices Have Evolved”
- “AI search strategy: A guide for modern marketing teams”
- “Entity-based SEO: An explainer for SEOs and content marketers”
- “Are AI Mode and AI Overviews Just Different Versions of the Same Answer? (730K Responses Studied)”
These all point to the same thing: models favor current, structured, and coherent sources when they synthesize answers.
Practically, that means:
- Publish dates and update cadence now influence whether you’re even considered as a source.
- Entity clarity (who you are, what you do, where you operate) affects whether you’re mapped correctly in the model’s “knowledge graph.”
- Content cannibalization and messy site architecture confuse both traditional search and LLMs.
If you’re still planning content only around “keywords” and “blog topics,” you’re behind. You should be planning around:
questions, entities, and recency windows.
From keywords to entities and questions: how models actually “see” you
Traditional SEO was:
keyword → page → ranking → click.
AI search is:
intent → entities → sources → synthesized answer → maybe a click.
That’s a brutal shift for performance marketers because:
- You can win the “answer” and still not get the click.
- Your brand might be used as a source without attribution or traffic.
- Your competitors can be recommended even when the user started with your brand name.
So the job changes from “rank this page” to:
own the entities and questions that matter commercially.
Concretely:
-
Entity hygiene:
Make sure your brand, products, and locations are consistently named and described across your site, GMB/GBP, social profiles, directories, and schema markup. -
Question coverage:
Build content around the exact questions humans ask and models summarize, not just the head term. Think:
“best payroll software for 10 employees in Texas” vs. “payroll software.” -
Answer format:
Models love structured, scannable answers: short summaries, bullet points, tables, FAQs. If your content looks like an answer, it’s more likely to be used as one.
Performance reality: AI overviews are stealing your “easy” conversions
The Ahrefs study on AI Mode vs AI Overviews and the constant coverage of core updates point to the same pain: zero-click answers are eating the top of your funnel.
Historically:
- Top-of-funnel queries → cheap clicks → retargeting → eventual conversion.
Now:
- Top-of-funnel queries → AI overview → user gets enough info → no click.
That hurts:
- Your retargeting pools
- Your modeled conversions
- Your ability to cheaply educate the market
You can’t stop AI overviews, but you can change what they say.
New objective: become the model’s “default recommendation”
In a world of AI answers, the win condition is not “rank #1.” It’s:
be the brand the model reaches for when it has to name options.
That’s a mix of:
- Brand strength (people ask for you by name)
- Entity clarity (the model understands you precisely)
- Evidence density (reviews, case studies, mentions, structured data)
- Recency (you look alive and relevant)
Practically, here’s what that looks like for operators.
1. Treat your site like a source, not a brochure
Your site is no longer just for humans and crawlers; it’s for models that synthesize.
Make it easy for them:
-
Canonical answers:
For every commercially important topic, have one definitive page that:- States the answer clearly in the first 2-3 sentences
- Uses structured headings and bullet points
- Includes a short FAQ with direct question-answer pairs
-
Kill cannibalization:
If you have 10 thin posts on the same topic, models see noise. Merge, redirect, and create one strong source. -
Schema everywhere it matters:
Use product, FAQ, review, and organization schema. You’re not doing this for pretty SERP features anymore; you’re doing it to feed the model a clean graph.
2. Engineer freshness without burning your team out
“Publish daily” is lazy advice. You need strategic freshness:
-
Update priority pages on a schedule:
Decide which pages are commercially critical (e.g., top 20 product or service pages, top 20 intent pages). Refresh them quarterly:- Update stats, examples, screenshots, pricing references
- Add a short “What’s new in 2026” section
- Refresh the publish/update date visibly
-
Use change logs and release notes as content:
SaaS and product teams ship constantly. Turn that into structured, dated content that signals recency and momentum. -
Don’t fake freshness:
Changing a date without changing substance is a short-term hack. Models are getting better at detecting shallow updates.
3. Align paid and organic around “answer ownership”
Media buyers can’t sit this one out. AI search changes how you plan and measure paid.
A practical playbook:
-
Map your “answer keywords”:
Identify queries where:- AI overviews show up frequently
- There’s strong commercial intent (vs pure info)
- You currently get meaningful paid or organic conversions
-
Build answer pages, not just ad groups:
For those queries, create or refine pages that:- Directly answer the question in plain language
- Include comparison tables and clear CTAs
- Are tightly aligned to your ad copy and extensions
-
Use paid to “train” the model:
Drive high-intent traffic to those answer pages. The more engagement, links, and mentions they earn, the more likely they become trusted sources for AI overviews. -
Measure blended performance:
Stop reporting paid and organic in isolation. Track:- Category-level search volume vs. your blended conversions
- Changes in impression share alongside changes in AI overview presence
4. Local and vertical: where LLM SEO gets real money
“Localized SEO for LLMs” is not a thought experiment. It’s where real revenue moves:
- “Best dentist near me that takes Delta Dental”
- “Warehouse management software for food distributors in Ohio”
- “24/7 plumber in Brooklyn with emergency service”
In local and vertical markets, models will often recommend one or two options. That’s a winner-takes-most dynamic.
To win:
-
Hyper-specific location and niche content:
Don’t just say “we serve the US.” Have pages and schema that clearly tie you to cities, states, and industries. -
Structured proof:
Reviews, case studies, and testimonials tagged by location and industry. Models love patterns like “this brand + this city + this service.” -
Consistent NAP data:
Name, address, phone consistency is boring but critical. Messy citations equal weak entity confidence.
Brand vs performance: the false fight that AI just ended
You can see the industry trying to re-litigate “brand vs performance” in headlines like:
“Brand-Led Growth Beats Performance Marketing” and
“The Death of Organic Reach: What Works Right Now”.
In an AI-mediated world, that debate is mostly over:
brand is now a performance input.
Why:
- Models heavily weight brand mentions, navigational queries, and review volume when deciding who to recommend.
- If people search for you by name, ask “Is X good for Y?” or mention you in reviews and forums, you become a “safe” recommendation.
- If you’re invisible outside your own site and ad accounts, the model has no reason to pick you.
For performance teams, that means:
- Brand campaigns are not “top-of-funnel fluff”; they’re how you seed the model’s memory.
- PR, partnerships, and creator content are not just awareness; they’re external signals that models can crawl and index.
- Retention and reviews are not just CS metrics; they’re how you accumulate evidence that you’re a safe recommendation.
What to actually do in the next 90 days
If you’re running growth, media, or performance right now, here’s a focused 90-day plan that respects your calendar and your P&L.
Week 1-2: Audit your “model-facing” footprint
- List your top 20-30 revenue-driving queries (paid + organic).
- For each, check:
- Does an AI overview or rich answer appear?
- Are you mentioned? Are competitors mentioned?
- Which of your pages show up as sources (if any)?
- Audit entity hygiene:
- Is your brand name consistent everywhere?
- Are your products and locations clearly defined on-site and in schema?
Week 3-6: Build or fix your answer assets
- Pick 10-15 high-value queries where:
- AI overviews exist
- You’re not clearly the default recommendation
- Create or overhaul one canonical answer page per topic:
- Clear, short answer at the top
- Structured sections, bullets, and tables
- FAQ block with 4-6 real questions
- Relevant schema (FAQ, product, organization, local business)
- Merge or redirect any cannibalizing content into these pages.
Week 7-10: Feed those pages with real traffic and signals
- Point existing search and social campaigns to these answer pages where intent matches.
- Run modest branded and category campaigns to drive qualified traffic and engagement.
- Encourage reviews, testimonials, and case studies that use the same language as your target queries.
Week 11-13: Measure blended impact and iterate
- Track:
- Changes in impressions and clicks for your target queries
- Any shifts in AI overview composition (are you now mentioned?)
- Blended CPA/ROAS across paid + organic for those topics
- Double down on topics where:
- You see both improved visibility and improved conversion performance
- Your answer pages generate strong engagement (time on page, scroll depth, assisted conversions)
The headlines are going to keep screaming about “trends for 2026,” “the death of X,” and “the rise of Y.” Underneath all of that, the real game is simple:
either you shape what the models say about your category, or someone else will.