SEO has been around for a really long time.
I’ve been in the industry for close to 20 years now. I’ve seen a lot of success stories over the years, especially with ecommerce brands that’ve invested in this channel. Brands that invested reaped huge rewards.
They built their growth engine on Google, dominated product and category terms, published blog content that ranked, and kept their site technically sound. They knew their keywords, their competitors, and how to win the algorithm.
But we’ve reached a point where brands that were doing everything right… growth has flatlined or started to fall.
Rankings are steady. Content is consistent. Yet organic traffic is tapering off. Conversions from this channel feel unpredictable. Your branded search volume has declined.
That’s because in many cases, Google is no longer the start of the buyer journey; it’s the middle, or sometimes the end. Discovery now happens long before search, across a fragmented ecosystem of platforms, apps, creators, and increasingly… AI-powered tools (LLMs).
If you’re still treating SEO as your first and primary touchpoint, you’re playing yesterday’s game.
Let’s unpack why.
Discovery Comes First. Search Comes Later.
Today’s consumer journey doesn’t begin with a Google search; it begins with curiosity, conversation, or context.
It starts when someone watches a product demo on TikTok, reads a product comparison thread on Reddit, gets a founder story in their LinkedIn feed, or asks ChatGPT for brand recommendations. From there, they might see your name… or they might not.
Search often happens after the discovery moment when a user wants to validate something they’ve already seen or heard. And by then, their preferences may already be shaped by what they’ve found in those earlier discovery touchpoints.
For example:
- A TikTok user posts a “top 5 coolers for this year’s hunt” clip. You’re not in it.
- A Reddit user asks about the best cooler for hunting trips. Your competitor dominates the replies.
- A shopper asks ChatGPT, “Which camping cooler keeps ice longest?” and you’re absent from the sources cited.
By the time someone searches your category on Google, you’re already either in the conversation or you’re not. Discovery isn’t optional anymore. It’s the price of admission for consideration.
Your Customer’s Journey Isn’t Generic – So Your Strategy Can’t Be
Too many ecommerce brands build their marketing strategies around the idea of a “typical buyer journey.” They assume people search, click, and buy. But in reality, every buyer takes a different path and it’s your job as a founder or marketer to understand it.
Some of your customers may use Reddit to ask for recommendations from like-minded communities. Others go to YouTube to hear creators walk through product pros and cons. Some consult ChatGPT to save time. Others don’t even realize they’re shopping until something shows up in their TikTok feed.
If your marketing assumes everyone starts with a keyword, you’ll miss the dozens of moments that shape perception before search happens.
Investing in customer understanding means:
- Running short surveys and interviews to uncover buying behavior
- Mapping where your customers actually spend time online
- Listening to how they describe their needs and obstacles in their own words
- Learning which channels actually influence their decision-making
The more granular your understanding, the more targeted and efficient your content and distribution become. Your goal shouldn’t be omnipresence; it should be strategic presence where it counts most.
LLMs Are the New Gatekeepers of Discovery
Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google’s new AI Search mode are now influencing buyer behavior at scale. They’re no longer just productivity tools. They’re trusted advisors, gift guides, product researchers, and comparison engines.
Buyers are prompting these tools with requests like:
- “What are the best protein powders for women over 40?”
- “Best budget-friendly luxury candle brands”
- “What cooler should I get for a 4-day camping trip in 90-degree temperatures?”
If your brand isn’t showing up in those answers, you’re invisible at the earliest (and often most important) discovery stage.
What makes LLMs powerful and dangerous at the same time is that they’re trained on content from across the internet, not your site alone. They reference Reddit, forums, blog posts, product roundups, YouTube transcripts, and more. And they lean on structured, factual, and widely cited information.
If your brand is only publishing product pages and blog posts but never showing up in the places LLMs pull from, your content won’t be surfaced in answers, even if you’re “the best” product in your category.
To increase your visibility:
- Publish expert-level, fact-based content that’s easy to summarize
- Ensure you’re mentioned in third-party sources (blogs, roundups, reviews)
- Add FAQs and structured data to your site for clarity
You can monitor your inclusion using LLM visibility tools like Peec.ai and get deeper insights into how you show up compared to your competitors.
The future of SEO isn’t just about Google anymore; it’s about showing up wherever machines (and humans) seek answers.
Why Growth Has Stalled, Even Though Rankings Haven’t
Here’s what we’re seeing across ecommerce brands that were once growing fast through Google:
- Traffic is declining despite strong rankings: You’re still in the top 3, but you’re seeing fewer clicks. Google’s SERP is increasingly crowded with AI snapshots, carousels, and zero-click answers.
- Click-through rates are dropping: Even when you’re visible, AI Overviews and featured snippets are taking the attention, and giving users what they need without them visiting your site.
- Branded search is softening: If your brand isn’t being discovered early, it isn’t being searched later. Visibility up-funnel is driving down-funnel intent.
- You’re missing from third-party conversations: When creators, influencers, or communities talk about your space, you’re not part of the dialogue. That’s not just missed traffic, it’s lost trust.
- LLMs are recommending competitors, not you: Even with great content on your site, if it’s not being picked up and reinforced across the web, AI tools will continue to overlook you.
You didn’t stop doing SEO well.
The rules of visibility evolved, and the playbook changed.
5 Actions You Can Take Today
Don’t wait to adapt. Start rethinking your SEO and content strategy right now with these five steps:
1. Map the True Customer Journey
Don’t rely on assumptions. Survey and interview your customers to find out:
- Where they first heard of your brand (if at all)
- What channels influenced their decision
- What tools they used to evaluate their options
Use this to inform a smarter distribution strategy focused on real discovery moments.
2. Audit Existing Content for Discovery
Look at your top-performing blog, collection, and product pages. Ask:
- Can this content be reused on Reddit or LinkedIn?
- Can it fuel ChatGPT answers or AI Overview snippets?
- Could a short-form video be made from it?
Then prioritize updates or repurposing that match discovery behaviors.
3. Add Structured Q&A Content to Key Pages
- Include natural language questions and answers on PDPs, collection pages, and buying guides.
- Use schema markup to make it digestible by AI tools.
This increases your odds of being pulled into People Also Ask, featured snippets, and LLM-generated responses.
4. Build a Lightweight, Repeatable Repurposing System
Every time you publish a blog post or guide, plan how to spin it into:
- A Reddit or Quora response
- A short TikTok or YouTube Shorts video
- A ChatGPT-style Q&A snippet
- A LinkedIn narrative post
This makes your content travel and gets you in the conversation.
5. Track Visibility Beyond Google
Start using tools like:
- Peec.ai for LLM/AI model visibility
- SparkToro to uncover where your audience hangs out
- Brand24 to monitor mentions across forums and social
And layer that visibility data alongside traditional SEO metrics to get a full picture of your reach.
Visibility Is the New Ranking
Your customer’s journey is fragmented. Their attention is split. And their trust is shaped before they ever search for you.
If you want to grow in this new environment, you need to:
- Understand your customer’s real behavior
- Show up early in their journey, not just when they Google
- Optimize for LLMs and platforms shaping first impressions
- Rethink content not as a ranking tool, but as a discovery engine
Google still matters. But it’s not where the journey starts. It’s where it ends.
Don’t just be searchable. Be discoverable.
Greg is the founder and CEO of Stryde and a seasoned digital marketer who has worked with thousands of businesses, large and small, to generate more revenue via online marketing strategy and execution. Greg has written hundreds of blog posts as well as spoken at many events about online marketing strategy. You can follow Greg on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
