For years, a company’s traditional digital strategy was clear: publish a steady stream of content, rank on Google, and use its website as the central hub for conversions. Google’s algorithm might change slightly, but the equation remained largely the same. Now, as AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Bing Copilot, and Google's Gemini reshape how people search, those playbooks are rapidly becoming outdated. 

Today, more buyers are skipping keyword searches altogether and getting direct answers from AI systems like Google’s AI Overviews. According to a Bloomberg report, companies have reported a decline of 70% or more in website traffic since Google introduced its AI summaries, with the click-through rates for top organic listings falling by 30% or more. Non-branded, informational queries – the ones that used to be the bread and butter of SEO-optimised content are getting hit hardest; customers no longer need to click through to the website to get their questions answered. 

These changes represent a shift in the customer journey: rather than businesses being able to capture potential customers by answering their “top of the funnel” questions, AI is doing that. The question for businesses becomes: how do you optimise your website for customers who are further along in the decision making process? 

The customer journey can be thought of as a conversational spectrum that buyers engage with along the way to making a decision or taking an action. They begin oblivious to their needs; then they do research and become curious about solutions; they’re then intrigued by one or a few narrowed-down options; until finally, they’re invested – and, they’re ready to act. 

With the “oblivious” and “curious” parts of the customer journey well handled by AI, companies need to figure out how to capture customers in the “intrigued” area. It’s a shift, but one that only makes websites all the more important to reach new customers.  While AI systems are handling much of the early-stage discovery process – AIs are great at answering questions like “Why do I have a headache?” or “Why is my basement flooding” – they still need to look elsewhere to answer the critical follow-on question: “what should I do about it?” or “Who is the best at…” In many ways, this means that when traffic is coming through to the website, it’s increasingly higher-quality traffic from later stages of the decision cycle. They’re pre-qualified leads, individuals who are more intrigued or invested. In some cases, we’re seeing conversion rates rise, even as raw traffic volume declines.

Optimising and standing out in this new search process means companies need to retool their websites to focus on trust rather than volume. Building that essential trust starts with content. AI is making traditional content marketing blogs obsolete, as LLM systems churn out hundreds of AI-generated pages in minutes. 

So, instead of wasting time chasing keywords, businesses should focus on creating structured, high-quality content that reflects true domain expertise. Websites now have to pull double duty: build trust with customers, yes, but build trust with AI as well. Things like in-depth explainers, detailed case studies, client success stories, and original research indicate real-world trust, but they also feed AI’s knowledge, and increase the likelihood that AI points back to it. Structure and clarity matter here, too. Well-formatted content with clear headers, concise language and schema markup is easier for LLMs to ingest and reference while explicit references to people, places, tools, and outcomes help differentiate AI slop from human expertise. 

Building trust and authority will also depend on what others say about you; trust is earned not just through expertise, but through validation. If you want to stand out to AI systems, you need a visible trail of social proof. Verified reviews on sites like Google, Trustpilot or Yelp, third-party endorsements, partnerships, and high-profile mentions in publications all help to establish your bona fides.

The website still matters; when users are cross-referencing what they’ve learned from AI, an authoritative website that validates what they’ve learned is better positioned to engage and convert them.

The digital goal for companies is no longer to cast the widest net, but to build the best magnet. The site’s content ecosystem needs to be strong enough to train AI, and the site needs to be slick enough to convert the right audience; conversion readiness is key. 

In an AI-driven world, your website remains one of the few digital assets you truly own – and that control matters more than ever.

For leadership teams, the imperative is clear: evolving your company’s website strategy is not optional. It is foundational to long-term success in a digital ecosystem increasingly shaped by AI. Organisations that continue treating their websites as passive assets will find themselves invisible to the tools their customers now trust. Those that build authority, foster trust, and maintain ownership will not only survive – they will thrive.