so I’ve been a marketing agency owner for a few years but I’m looking to found another company some time soon. marketing is getting harder with the use of AI in general and the one thing that is over and dead is SEO ((imho))
more and more people just don’t Google anymore, they ask ChatGPT, Gemini etc and even use them choose the best option for them which is killing the visibility of smaller companies
so as a marketer I’m working on a strategy to promote this new business and I went down a rabbit hole on this and came across a concept around tracking whether your brand is mentioned inside AI answers and even boost the visibility (one example I saw was NetRanks)
I’m curious what other founders are thinking about this?
are you doing anything to make sure you’re mentioned by these AI chatbots? we’ve seen SEO evolve before, and this could just be that but that’s another topic
really interested to hear more opinions on this
if AI answers replace google search, how are we supposed to get discovered?
byu/c1nnamonapple inEntrepreneur
Posted by c1nnamonapple
7 Comments
I think you’re right AI is changing how people discover businesses, and SEO alone isn’t enough anymore. One approach is focusing on high-quality, authoritative content that AI models are more likely to reference, plus building mentions on trusted sites and communities. It’s still early days, but tracking your brand in AI results and optimizing for it could become the next version of SEO.
are more people just now catching onto AEO? Is AEO spam gonna be the new SaaS spam
Marketing. Real marketing. Recognizing potential clients, contacting them in ways that get their attention.
I totally get your concern about visibility in the age of AI-powered search – it’s like the rules of SEO are being rewritten overnight. As someone who’s worked with content creators, I’ve seen how important it is to have a solid social media presence to get discovered, and tools that help automate and optimize that process can be a game-changer. By focusing on building a strong brand voice and leveraging platforms that simplify content creation and distribution, you can increase your chances of being mentioned in those AI-generated answers.
Google maps for retail / influencers are another avenue
Feels less like “SEO is dead” and more like discovery is shifting from ranking → being referenced.
AI surfaces what’s consistently talked about in context, not just what’s optimised. Communities, examples, and proof seem to matter way more now.
I’m seeing the same shift. It doesn’t feel like SEO is dead, but discovery is clearly moving beyond rankings.
I’ve been experimenting with this too, focusing on how AI tools interpret a product rather than how it ranks. Once that was dialed in, one of my software projects started getting daily signups from AI tools.
Feels less like a hack and more like making your brand machine-readable. Curious how others are approaching this.