Businesses are struggling to maintain visibility as artificial intelligence transforms how people search for information online. Traditional search engine optimization tactics are becoming obsolete as AI-powered search tools like Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT increasingly provide answers without directing users to company websites.
Forbes writer Rashi Shrivastava reports that search traffic has declined significantly for many businesses. Travel site Kayak and education company Chegg have experienced drops in website visits. One cybersecurity company executive told Forbes that search traffic fell 10% this year. Research shows 60% of searches now end with users reading AI summaries instead of clicking through to actual websites.
New startups are emerging to help companies adapt to this shift. Profound, founded by James Cadwallader and Dylan Babbs, raised $20 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins, Nvidia, and Khosla Ventures. The company helps over 100 clients including U.S. Bank and DocuSign understand how their brands appear in AI-generated responses.
“We’re entering this inflection point where humans no longer need to visit websites on the internet,” Cadwallader said. “These systems are hijacking that relationship with the end user entirely.”
Profound generates thousands of test prompts and analyzes which brands appear most frequently in AI responses. The company then recommends content strategies designed specifically for AI crawlers rather than human readers. Competitors like Bluefish AI and Athena offer similar services, marking the emergence of “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO) as a new marketing discipline.