On May 28, 2026, BCAMA brought together marketers for the first instalment of its Lunch & Learn series, exploring one of the most significant shifts in how brands are discovered online: the rise of AI-driven search.
As AI transforms the search experience, accelerating user decisions at every stage of the buying journey, the conversation around SEO is evolving. Search optimization is no longer just a short-term tactic; it is increasingly becoming a long-term brand strategy that determines whether a business surfaces in AI-generated recommendations at all.
Speaker
Mike Nesselbeck, Founder & Operator at Demand Lift, guided attendees through what it took to win in search before, what has changed, and what marketers need to do now. The session covered how SEO and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) are reshaping search behaviour, and how to think strategically about search for your specific business context.
The Evolving Search Landscape
The session opened with a look at how AI-driven search is changing the way users find and evaluate solutions. The traditional path- search Google, scan the top results, make a purchase decision – is no longer the only route. Increasingly, users are turning to platforms like ChatGPT and Claude for personalized recommendations before ever visiting a website.
This shift has lengthened the buyer journey. Brands now need to build confidence, authority, and consistency over time to earn relevance within AI-driven search results, not just rank on a page and expect sales.
Another notable trend: top-of-funnel search behaviour is being disrupted. Modern buyers respond more readily to brand mentions across multiple platforms, peer recommendations, and AI overviews than to traditional organic listings. They may never click through to your website at all, and yet still form a strong impression of your brand based on how and where it appears in the content they consume daily.
Mike Nesselbeck, Founder & Operator at Demand Lift – Lunch & Learn: How AI Is Changing Search, Discovery and Brand Visibility
Optimizing for AI Search
An important data point from the session: ChatGPT currently handles approximately 6.3% of Google’s monthly search volume. That figure underscores why brands shouldn’t abandon SEO in favour of AEO or vice versa. The more effective approach is combining high-quality SEO with AI search optimization to build stronger, more durable visibility.
Mike outlined a set of long-term strategies for brands looking to remain visible in an AI-influenced search environment:
- Brand Authority: Build a substantial, consistent presence across the web.
- Source Diversity: Earn brand mentions across a variety of channels and platforms.
- Topical Authority: Create content that addresses the specific problems your brand and your clients’ businesses solve.
- Well-structured Content: Communicate a clear message with a defined call to action.
- E-E-A-T Signals: Demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness throughout your content.
- Structured Data & Technical Best Practices: Use clear data structures that help AI systems parse and extract your content accurately.
Measuring Visibility in the AI Era
The session also addressed how to think about measurement. Being cited in an AI response was once considered a meaningful win. It drove traffic and generated potential leads. That bar has risen. Today, brands need to actively cultivate awareness so that their authority is recognized consistently, not just cited occasionally.
That means tracking brand mentions across channels, not just URL citations, and treating multi-channel presence as a core visibility metric.
Key Takeaway
SEO and AEO are not competing strategies but complementary, and each relies on the other to be effective. As the search landscape continues shifting toward AI-driven discovery, brands that adapt their content strategies now will be better positioned for what comes next.
The transition is underway, but it is not complete. Brands with existing content that delivers genuine value are well-placed to carry that into the AEO era, needing only targeted adjustments rather than a full rebuild.