You're hearing about ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. Your customers are using them. Your question is straightforward: How does my business show up in AI search results?
The answer might surprise you: the same way you show up in traditional search.
AI tools don't pull answers from thin air.
They search the web, evaluate sources, and cite the content they trust. Every step in that process relies on the exact SEO fundamentals we've been building together.
Here's why your SEO investment just became more valuable, not less.
AI Search Still Runs on Your SEO
When ChatGPT cites a source, when Perplexity references your brand, when Google's AI Overview quotes your content, they're not pulling from some magical AI database. They're pulling from the web. Your web.
This process has a name: retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG. AI models search the internet in real-time, evaluate which sources to trust, extract relevant information, then synthesize an answer. Every step in that process relies on the exact signals you've been building through SEO.
Google confirmed this explicitly: normal SEO works for ranking in AI Overviews.
Strong domain authority, quality backlinks, well-structured content, fast site speed, mobile optimization: the fundamentals you've invested in don't disappear when AI enters the picture. They determine whether AI tools find you, trust you, and cite you.
The Playing Field Expanded, The Rules Stayed the Same
Yes, user behavior is shifting. 79% of people who use AI search believe it offers a better experience than traditional search engines. Zero-click results now dominate. Users get answers without clicking through to websites.
But here's what hasn't changed: AI tools need authoritative sources. They scan for credibility signals. They prioritize sites with clear structure, relevant content, and established trust.
Your SEO work built those signals. AI platforms reward them just like Google always has.
The shift isn't that SEO stopped working. It's that your optimized content now appears in more places: traditional search results AND AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, and Google's own AI features.
What This Means for Your Strategy
You're not starting over. You're building on what already works.
Sites with strong SEO foundations get cited by AI tools. Sites with weak SEO don't appear anywhere: not in traditional results, not in AI answers, nowhere.
The businesses winning in this new landscape aren't abandoning SEO. They're doubling down on it while adapting their content structure for how AI processes information. Clear answers to specific questions. Structured data that helps AI understand context. Authority signals that establish trust.
But all of that sits on top of SEO fundamentals.
Without solid technical optimization, quality content, and earned authority, AI tools have nothing to find and nothing to cite.