Over the past twenty years, ranking on search engines has been one of the key goals for companies, bloggers, and marketing professionals. The art of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) dictated the rules for being visible on Google: keywords, backlinks, site structure, optimized content. But today, the arrival of generative artificial intelligence, like ChatGPT, is rewriting those rules.
The old paradigm: SEO and Google
Until just a few years ago, dominating the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) was synonymous with online success. The game was clear: understand Google’s algorithm and optimize your content to satisfy it. Technical and on-page SEO were essential. The higher you ranked, the more traffic (and business) you brought in.
The new landscape: AI as information intermediary
With the emergence of conversational AI like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, a new type of interaction is taking hold: users no longer search for where to find the information, they ask directly for the answer.
No more: “Best restaurants in Rome” on Google,
but rather: “What are the best restaurants in Rome?” on ChatGPT.
This revolution raises a crucial question:
How do you become the answer when it’s no longer Google deciding, but an AI?
Being visible in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
The first rule to follow is to create genuinely useful and well-structured content. AIs pull information from authoritative, up-to-date, and well-organized sources. Writing clear, thorough content in a Q&A format with well-organized headings increases the chance that the AI will consider it “reliable.”
Brand authority remains key.
Visibility in AI results shifts from keywords to branding. A website or author recognized as an expert in a specific field is more likely to be cited. Investing in personal branding and online reputation becomes crucial.
Markup, structured data, and multi-platform presence
Even if ChatGPT doesn’t directly read a site’s code, AI-based engines often rely on structured sources (Wikipedia, schema.org, Google Knowledge Graph). Having a semantically well-built site helps with indexing by AI training systems.
AI doesn’t just rely on websites. Podcasts, videos, Medium articles, forums like Reddit or StackOverflow, reviews on niche platforms, any public content can become training material. Diversifying your online presence increases the chances of being “read” by AI.
FAQs, guides, and evergreen content
Artificial intelligences favor content that clearly answers common questions. Creating FAQ sections, “how-to” guides, and well-written, up-to-date evergreen content increases the likelihood of being cited or suggested by a virtual assistant.
The future of SEO: from “optimisation” to “AI-oriented content strategy”
SEO isn’t dead,it’s just moved. Today, it’s no longer only about climbing Google’s rankings, but about entering the AI answer ecosystem.
The rules have changed: authority, clarity, and being present where AIs seek information now matter most.
It’s no longer enough to be visible, you must be relevant.
Is your communication designed to be found by a virtual assistant?
Is your brand ready to engage with AI, answer its questions, become a source?
In the new conversational web, those who don’t adapt will disappear.
Those who prepare today will be tomorrow’s answer.
