There's an Enormous Hidden Opportunity Coming for Writers and Creators

The time to position yourself as an authority online is now

“Chatbot Ready” by ChatGPT.

If you could go back and jump on board the YouTube bandwagon before it took off, would you?

What if I told you there’s a similar upheaval coming to the world of digital marketing and now’s the time to hop aboard?

Google have had a pseudo-monopoly on online search for decades. A huge amount of digital marketing was about claiming the coveted top spot on Google’s first page (called Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO). But as people are increasingly using AI chatbots as search engines, the landscape is changing.

The good news is that a lot of classic SEO methods will still be effective. The bad news is, they aren’t going to be enough anymore. Thankfully, this will create opportunities for those ready to get ahead.

Here’s what we’ll unpack this time…

• How chatbots are changing the landscape of SEO and digital marketing

• The ways we’ll need to adapt to stay relevant

• The opportunities it provides for businesses/individuals

So, what’s coming, and how should we deal with it?

---

Traditional SEO is losing its effectiveness

Google didn’t become the top player in their field by accident.

They developed the world’s best algorithm for getting relevant results for people’s searches. An arms race started between those looking for quick wins to get to the top of search results, and Google for making sure ‘quality’ was picked over ‘trickery’.

But there were limitations. The content which ranked wasn’t necessarily helpful, it was just optimised. There was emphasis on targeting keywords rather than answering questions real people were asking.

Then, AI Chatbots swept the scene

Let’s paint a picture: I’m on the lookout for a new electric piano.

The traditional way to do this would be to navigate to a search engine of my choice (probably Google) and type in the query: ‘best digital piano 2025’. I then navigate through the suggestions, maybe read a couple of wrap-ups until I find something that checks all my boxes.

Since the emergence of chatbot searches, I can do this differently. If I bring up ChatGPT, I can ask it this:

I’m looking for a new digital piano. I want something cost-effective but with properly weighted keys. I don’t mind sacrificing the tone because I can connect it to my laptop and have the sound play through that instead. I’d love something portable because I want to be able to play it in gigs, but my priority is that it feels great to play.

The result speaks for itself.

Imagine trying to get a result like this out of a traditional Google search.

Still, Google is fighting back

Last month, Google introduced Google AI mode.

It’s a similar interface to ChatGPT or Perplexity.ai, wherein you ask it a question and it gives you a detailed answer. Of particular note is how much less emphasis there is on the external website suggestions.

AI mode is rolling out in the U.S., and has plans to be gradually released to other countries. Will it be like this forever? I couldn’t possibly say. But whether or not Google brings back endless pages of search results, the direction of travel is obvious: AI search is here to stay.

The question is, how can we get these AI engines to recommend our product, service or website?