In April 2025, OpenAI launched new shopping tools inside ChatGPT. Users can now compare products, read reviews, and buy directly inside the chat without visiting other websites.
This moves breaks Google’s long-standing “search-to-click” model, where users searched, clicked a result, and then made a purchase.
What’s Changing in Online Search
ChatGPT’s update adds product cards, prices, and buy links directly within the chat. Discovery, comparison, and purchase now happen in one window.
This marks a major shift in digital marketing.
Instead of fighting for top Google rankings, brands now compete to be featured inside AI answers. The algorithm, not the search engine, decides visibility.
AI Disrupts Traditional Search
The traditional SEO funnel is collapsing. A 2024 SparkToro study found that 58.5% of U.S. Google searches and 59.7% in the EU ended without a click.
That number is rising fast as AI chat tools deliver complete answers within their platforms. For businesses, this means fewer site visits, harder performance tracking, and more reliance on how AI systems interpret your brand.
Ranking high on Google is no longer enough. Brands must now be AI-recognisable.
Traditional SEO Under Threat
The biggest threat isn’t fewer clicks. It’s losing control over how AI platforms represent your brand. When ChatGPT or Gemini answer user questions, they decide which brands and products to feature.
By late 2024, 65% of Google searches ended with zero clicks. The same trend now appears across AI chat tools. Visibility depends on whether AI recognises your brand as trusted and credible, not where it ranks on Google.
Who Will Feel the Impact and How
SEO Teams
- Lose visibility as AI replaces top-ranking pages.
- Focus on authority, structured data, and factual accuracy.
Marketers
- See weaker ad performance as fewer users visit websites.
- Struggle track results as audience data becomes limited.
Brand Managers
- Lose traffic as shoppers buy directly through AI chats.
- Risk falling behind competitors already recognised by AI systems.
The New Measure of Visibility and Authority
AI now decides visibility based on how well it understands your brand, not where you rank on Google. OpenAI’s ChatGPT update, reported by TechCrunch in April 2025, uses product data and metadata to power in-chat shopping, proving that algorithmic recognition is replacing traditional SEO positioning.
Brands that provide structured data, expert insights, and consistent messaging build AI authority. These brands appear first in chatbot answers and remain visible even as clicks decline.
Find Out if AI Recognises Your Brand
Brands must build AI literacy skills to shape the content, so algorithms interpret it accurately. This means refining metadata, tone, transparency, and expert sourcing across all marketing.
To test your readiness, try our quiz, “Is Your Brand Invisible to AI Shoppers?” In less than two minutes, it shows how your brand appears in AI results and shares clear steps to boost digital authority.
Lead the Market Before AI Redefines It
AI is changing how people find and trust brands. Shoppers now rely on ChatGPT and other AI tools to decide what to buy. Traditional SEO alone no longer guarantees visibility.
If AI doesn’t understand your brand, your audience won’t see you.
Legend Digitech helps businesses build authority, relevance, and trust in AI-driven search.
