ChatGPT ate my clicks: the future of search (& what to do about it)

Remember when SEO was the hill every marketer chose to die on?

You’d stuff keywords into your blog posts like they were suitcases on a budget airline's overhead compartment. You’d chase backlinks like a Victorian ghost chasing closure. You’d spend hours lovingly crafting content, all for that sweet, sweet #1 spot on Google.

Good times.

But lately, there’s been a vibe shift. Better yet, a behavioural one. People aren’t searching the internet the way they used to. They’re not scrolling through blog posts or trawling page 3 of Google results. They’re going straight to AI. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, even voice assistants, and they’re getting all the answers they need instantly. No links. No traffic. No credit.

So, what happens to SEO when nobody’s clicking? What happens to all that content when AI is out here serving up your hard-earned knowledge with zero backlinks and a side of sass?

Let’s talk about it.

AI is eating search (and your strategy with it).

We’ve officially entered the age of answer engines. AI tools are becoming the first stop for consumers. Whether they’re trying to compare products, plan a holiday, write a cover letter, or figure out wtf “fractional marketing” actually means.

Instead of typing “best noise-cancelling headphones 2025” into Google and opening 11 tabs, people are asking an AI assistant and getting a quick, snappy list with pros, cons, and prices, all in one go. That’s convenience Google simply can’t compete with.

Not to mention, a lot of those AI answers are being pulled from your website. Your blog post. Your product page. With. No. Click. Ouchies.

Now don’t get me wrong, SEO isn’t dead. But it’s definitely gasping.

Google still matters. People obviously still search. But SEO as we know it—obsessing over meta descriptions, praying to the backlink gods, and playing the keyword game—is losing power.

Why? Because traditional SEO was built for a world where humans searched, clicked, and read. Now, AI is the middleman. It’s doing the clicking for users and summarising the results in one neat paragraph. A paragraph that most likely doesn’t link back to you.

So, if you're still measuring success in pageviews and impressions alone, you might be missing the bigger picture: discovery is happening without attribution.

Well then that begs the question, how do you stay discoverable?

The good news? There are ways to show up in the age of AI. But they require a shift in thinking, from ranking to resonating. From optimising to owning.

So, here’s how to stay in the conversation (even when you’re not being clicked):

Be the source. AI needs places to pull from. The more original your data, insights, frameworks, or POVs, the more likely you’ll be cited or influence the output, even if you’re not credited directly.

Build a brand people ask for by name. If someone types “What’s the best mascara?” the AI might give them a list. But if they ask “Is Glossier’s Lash Slick actually worth it?” you freaking win. Brand awareness isn’t vanity. It’s visibility insurance.

Think beyond Google. Search is now fragmented. People are looking things up on TikTok, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and yes, AI chatbots. You need to meet them where they are, not where they used to be.

Create content worth quoting. If your blog sounds like everyone else’s, AI will paraphrase it. If it sounds like you: funny, sharp, opinionated, original, it might actually stand out in the training data. (Or, at the very least, be remembered by a human.)

Long story short.

SEO isn’t over; it’s just not the whole game anymore. The new search isn’t about rankings, it’s about relationships. It’s about trust, attention, and showing up in the places consumers are actually spending time.

The question is no longer “How do I get people to click on me?” It’s: How do I become the brand they already have in mind when they ask AI for help?

Not an easy feat, I know, but you got this. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer