Discovery stopped being one search box
People now ask an AI assistant, search inside TikTok, read a community thread, and only then type your name into Google. Ranking first for a keyword matters less than being present at every stop.
People no longer research a purchase in one place. They ask an AI assistant, search inside TikTok or YouTube, read a Reddit thread, check a comparison site, and only then type your name into Google. By the time they search for you directly, the decision is largely made.
The old model
Classic SEO assumed a funnel with one entrance: someone has a need, types it into Google, sees ten results, clicks one. Optimise to be one of those ten and you win a share of the demand.
That model still describes some searches. It no longer describes most buying research.
What actually happens now
A realistic path for a service purchase looks more like this: a question asked to ChatGPT, a follow-up search on YouTube for someone explaining it, a Reddit thread where people complain about the options, a shortlist formed from names that came up repeatedly, and finally a branded search for each name.
Notice that the branded search is the last step. If your visibility strategy only covers that step, you are competing for people whose minds are already made up.
What to do about it
Plan visibility across the path rather than the moment. In practice:
- Be citable by AI assistants, which is a different job from ranking
- Be present where your market actually discusses the problem, which is often a community you do not control
- Accept that some of the most valuable visibility is unmeasurable, because it happens inside a chat window or a thread with no referrer
That last point is uncomfortable for anyone who likes clean attribution. It is also true, and pretending otherwise leads to underinvesting in exactly the places that matter most.