The search collapse Is here
Gartner predicts a 25% decline in traditional search volume by 2026. This is not a small tremor; it’s a structural shift. Search journeys that once started with Google and a list of “ten blue links” are collapsing into single, summarised answers generated by AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini.
The ripple effects are profound. Perplexity’s audacious $35bn offer to buy Chrome, while rejected, signals the direction of travel: search is no longer about links and ads, but about answers. Businesses that have built their marketing playbooks around SEO and paid visibility now face a new reality.
The great marketing shift
For years, marketers fought two main visibility battles: SEO rankings and paid advertising. We optimised for keywords, invested in content, and when competition grew, poured more budget into digital ads.
That playbook is breaking. AI doesn’t show banner ads. It doesn’t insert sponsored links. Even in traditional search, buyers often stop at the AI-generated answer box, skipping both organic and paid results. The two primary levers of digital visibility – SEO and advertising, are becoming less reliable by the month.
When AI flattens differentiation, the danger is stark: if you sound like everyone else, AI will happily replace you with anyone else.
Digital PR 2.0
In this shifting landscape, PR takes on new weight. Yet a recent YouGov survey revealed that two in five British businesses have no PR effort whatsoever. The risk of invisibility has never been greater.
Digital PR 1.0 was about using PR for SEO juice; building backlinks, targeting high domain authority sites, and tracking rankings. That still matters, but it’s no longer enough.
Digital PR 2.0 builds on that foundation while also considering generative search optimization – whether you call it GSO, GEO, AIO, AISO, or AEO. The acronyms are already overwhelming, but the principle is clear: PR must now fuel visibility in generative AI engines. That means doubling down on distinctive, earned placements through personalised campaigns that signal authority to both people and machines.
If your PR agency isn’t talking about how they’re adapting for generative search, it’s time to ask them why.
The collapse of the funnel
Inbound marketing was built on the premise that long-tail SEO posts would capture early curiosity. Blogs drew visitors into a funnel where gated content, CTAs, and nurture sequences warmed leads toward sales.
AI has broken that model. Top-of-funnel curiosity questions now stay inside ChatGPT. By the time buyers reach middle or bottom of funnel, AI tools serve them a shortlist of providers, and only then might they click through.
The new battleground is the decision stage. Your website must now win at the precise point where buyers are choosing between you and your competitors.
That means a site refresh with a sales mindset, not just a creative one. Build a site designed to dominate the ChatGPT handoff and Google’s decision-stage searches. In practice, that means:
- Social proof and testimonials that sound authentic
- Case studies and stories with measurable outcomes and real customer names
- Sales deck content repurposed into web pages
- Industry pages and use cases showing how you solve problems
- Clear “how to buy / where to buy / who to talk to” pathways
- Robust FAQs addressing buying concerns
- Comparison pages that show how you stack up against alternatives
- Transparent pricing or ranges to remove guesswork
This isn’t marketing fluff. It’s about giving buyers every reason to choose you when it matters most.
The human advantage
AI is powerful, but it cannot replicate everything. The edge belongs to the qualities only people can bring:
- Brand as a Strategic Asset
Your brand is not your logo. It is the sum of what your market believes about you. AI can generate facts, but it cannot build emotional resonance or cultural capital. In commoditised markets, brand is your moat. - People as Trust Multipliers
Deals still close because someone trusts you. AI can answer questions, but it cannot shake hands, understand subtext, or bring the lived expertise that only comes from experience. - Experiences That Can’t Be Automated
AI cannot replicate the energy of a roundtable, the insight from a live panel, or the camaraderie of a partner event. Human moments build equity far deeper than a click ever could.
The human advantage isn’t sentimentality, it’s commercially ruthless. When AI flattens differentiation, the businesses that lean into clarity of purpose, creative problem-solving, and authentic voice will be the ones buyers remember.
Winning in the AI era requires combining tactical adaptation with strategic distinctiveness. For IT channel leaders, and any B2B brand, this means:
- Invest in distinctive brand IP: proprietary research, unique frameworks, or flagship events that AI can’t fabricate.
- Make experts visible: put your people on podcasts, panels, and video.
- Curate human-centred experiences: create opportunities for your market to experience your brand in person.
- Go deeper, not broader: dominate niche expertise instead of diluting credibility.
- Refresh your website for the decision stage: translate the conversations salespeople already have with buyers into accessible, findable web content.
The mindset shift
The real risk isn’t that AI will replace marketers. It’s that marketers will replace themselves by clinging to a system no longer designed for them. The winners will stop racing against the machine and start building what the machine cannot touch: trust, connection, and unmistakable presence.
AI doesn’t end marketing. It ends lazy marketing.
In a faster, flatter, more faceless world, being unmistakably human is not a nice-to-have. It is your last unfair advantage.
Louise Mahrra
Louise Mahrra is a marketing strategist and channel expert.
She is the founder of The Marketing Human, a blog exploring how real human connection powers better marketing, especially in the IT and channel space.
