Search is fragmenting – credibility and trust create the new visibility

For decades, digital marketing has relied on a predictable strategy: ensure you rank on the first page of Google.  

However, large language models (LLMs) have changed the dynamic, and marketers worry that search engine optimisation (SEO) may be going the way of the dodo. Do keywords, site structure and backlinks still matter in a ‘zero clicks’ environment in which users bypass the traditional blue links to company websites and social media platforms?  

“AI-powered search has collapsed the customer journey as we know it,” says Amen Mpofu, AI SEO/GEO & Growth Marketer at AI SEO agency GroXcelent. “Because users now access information everywhere they search, they skip the stages of the traditional customer journey.” 

As search answers are increasingly delivered via AI summaries, marketers must grapple with Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), where the goal is no longer just to be found, but to be included in the answer itself. 

“Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on improving rankings on search engine results pages, GEO is concerned with whether your content is selected and synthesised into AI-generated responses,” notes Jacqui Muller, Industry Coordinator at Belgium Campus IT university in South Africa.  

“In essence, SEO helps users find you, while GEO determines whether AI chooses to represent you.” 

But SEO is not rendered obsolete 

This does not render SEO obsolete, believes Brian Omondi, a digital strategist at DigitalMarketingNow in Kenya. He says SEO remains highly relevant and that brands should not abandon SEO best practice.  

“For your business content to be cited by LLMs, it must still rank well according to traditional search engine results page (SERP) rankings. It’s from there that LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity will pick it up and present it to readers as one of the reliable answers to their queries,” he explains. 

The economics of visibility is changing, comments Antoinette Prophy, author of The Prophy Africa Signal, a report unpacking how AI reshapes marketing systems, consumer behaviour and growth across Africa’s key markets. “Audiences increasingly expect synthesis rather than search, recommendations rather than results, and answers rather than links.” 

For marketers, this creates a fundamental tension: the familiar levers – rankings, impressions and clicks – no longer fully explain performance. 

Find out more about the evolution of online search in the AI era in Issue 2 2026 of Strategic Marketing for Africa, the thought-leadership magazine of the African Marketing Confederation.  

Read the Digital Edition online or download it here. The Print Edition will be available shortly.