Marketers used to rely on a simple funnel. Someone searches for the best accounting software, clicks a link, lands on a blog post or landing page, and the marketer gets a chance to monetize that click. AI Overviews upended that.

The demand is still there

We're working through this ourselves and with a lot of clients. Here's where we've landed: people still turn to Google and these AI tools to answer questions and solve problems. The opportunity is still there if you can get in front of it and influence what they say.

How to influence it is the open question. A lot of what's out there right now is snake oil, make-believe, or growth hacks that might work for a few minutes. None of that is a long-term strategy.

Your website should be your best salesperson

Here's how we're thinking about it at Narrative Bent. Your website needs to answer the main questions someone would ask on a demo or sales call. Comparison pages against your top competitors. Price, features, case studies, and every major consideration point.

Discovery content moves off your site

If someone asks Google what an AI Overview is, Google answers on its own and sends no traffic. That kind of discovery content is still valuable, but it needs to live on other platforms: LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram. Top and mid-funnel content now happens off your website, and you need to influence the conversation on platforms you don't own.

What you control is the last step, the zero moment of truth. By the time buyers reach your website, they've read Reddit threads, had ChatGPT vet their options, and searched Google. Then they come to you, ready to buy.

SEO isn't going to be the discovery channel it used to be. If we keep treating it that way, we're going to have a bad time.