Winning the AI-Powered Search Game: A Modern Marketer’s Playbook

Jordan Rivera
April 11, 2025

9 minutes

The AI Search Revolution is Here

Google’s AI Overviews now appear in 46% of searches (Botify), while ChatGPT has become the #2 search tool in the US (SimilarWeb). For marketers, this means:

Discovery is fragmented (TikTok → Reddit → ChatGPT → Google)
AI answers replace clicks (40% fewer website visits for informational queries)
Video & forums fuel AI training (Reddit/YouTube data trains LLMs)

5 AI-Search Must-Do’s

How to Get Chosen (Not Just Ranked)

1. Structure for Machines & Humans

Use Schema markup + clear H2/H3 hierarchies
Add video transcripts (YouTube content trains ChatGPT)
Example: A cooking site saw 3X more AI citations after adding recipe schema

2. Dominate Bing (ChatGPT’s Secret Source)

70% of ChatGPT answers pull from Bing’s index (Semrush)
Fix robots.txt blocks + submit to IndexNow

3. Own the “Zero-Click Zone”

Optimize for AI Overviews with:
- FAQ-rich content
- Data tables (LLMs love structured info)
- Authoritative sources (.gov/.edu backlinks)

4. Become Reddit’s Favorite Brand

Monitor/subtly guide discussions (AI learns from threads)
Pro Tip: Answer “vs.” questions (e.g., “Brand X vs. Brand Y”)

5. Repurpose for Multi-Platform Discovery

Turn blog posts into:
- TikTok carousels (AI scans visual text)
- Twitter threads (Perplexity cites social)
- LinkedIn documents (Gemini pulls insights)

Future-Proofing Your Strategy

3 Brands Winning at AI Search

Home Depot
- Tactic: 10,000+ product Q&A pages with schema
- Result: Dominates “how to [fix]” AI answers
Mayo Clinic
- Tactic: Medical FAQs with cited studies
- Result: 82% appearance rate in health-related AI Overviews
Sephora
- Tactic: Reddit AMAs with beauty experts
- Result: Controls brand narrative in ChatGPT beauty advice

The AI Search Audit (15-Minute Version)

Check Bing Indexing (site:yourdomain.com on Bing)
Test Key Queries in ChatGPT/Gemini – Are you cited?
Analyze Reddit (search “[brand] site:reddit.com”)
Validate Schema (Google Rich Results Test)
Transcript Gaps (YouTube Studio → Subtitles)

Warning: These will be obsolete by 2026:
Keyword stuffing
“Skyscraper” backlink farming
Ignoring video/audio content

Plant Seeds Now

AI search rewards early adopters who:
Structure content for both humans and LLMs
Participate in training grounds (Reddit/YouTube)
Own answers before competitors do

Need an AI-search edge? Book a free visibility audit with Saya’s SEO team.

Player FM

Apple podcasts

Stitcher

Spotify

Player FM

Apple podcasts

Stitcher

Spotify