How are people using AI to find and compare businesses?
The way people search online is changing.
For more than 20 years, we’ve become accustomed to typing a few words into Google, scanning the results and opening a handful of websites.
AI is introducing another way to search.
Instead of entering keywords, people can have a conversation.
And that seemingly small change has significant implications for businesses.
From keywords to conversations
Let’s say you’re looking for a marketing agency.
A traditional Google search could be:
“marketing agency Christchurch”
With an AI assistant, you could ask:
“I’m looking for a Christchurch marketing agency for a manufacturing business. We need a new website, professional video and ongoing digital marketing. We don’t want to manage three different agencies. Who should we consider?”
That’s no longer just a search.
You’ve provided context about:
- Your location
- Your industry
- The services you need
- How you’d prefer to work
- The type of provider you’re looking for
You can then continue the conversation.
“Which of those agencies has manufacturing experience?”
“Which one can do video in-house?”
“What should I expect to spend?”
“Compare these two companies.”
“Which would you choose for a business our size?”
That’s fundamentally different from entering a keyword.
People are asking AI about pricing
Pricing is one area we believe will become increasingly important.
Customers can ask:
“How much does a website cost in New Zealand?”
But they can also go much deeper:
“What’s a reasonable budget for a professionally designed website for a law firm with six staff and three service areas?”
They can paste in a quote and ask whether it looks reasonable.
They can ask what’s missing.
They can compare different approaches.
They can ask what a cheaper option might sacrifice.
For businesses, this means useful content around pricing, budgets and what influences cost may become increasingly valuable.
You don’t necessarily need to publish an exact rate for everything.
You can help customers understand how pricing works.
People are using AI to compare businesses
AI also makes comparison incredibly easy.
Someone researching a purchase might ask:
“Compare these three companies.”
“What are the pros and cons of each?”
“Which has the most experience?”
“Which looks better suited to a small business?”
“What questions should I ask them before choosing?”
This means your website needs to communicate more than a catchy headline.
People need to be able to understand what you do, where you operate, who you work with, what makes you different and why they should trust you.
“Who is the best?”
It’s the question businesses love and hate.
“Who’s the best builder in Christchurch?”
“Who’s the best accountant in North Canterbury?”
“Who’s the best marketing agency for a construction company?”
AI can attempt to answer those questions by drawing on the information and sources available to it.
There is no button a business can push to become the answer.
But having a strong, consistent and authoritative digital presence gives search systems more information to understand your business.
AI searches can become much more personal
People may also use conversational AI for questions they wouldn’t necessarily phrase the same way in Google.
They can explain their financial situation.
Their concerns.
Their experience with another provider.
Their budget.
Their level of knowledge.
Their exact circumstances.
For example:
“I’ve never used a digital marketing agency before and I’m worried about signing a long contract. What should I look for?”
A useful business article answering that question might be far more relevant than a page simply targeting the phrase “digital marketing agency”.
What does this mean for your website?
Your website remains important.
But businesses may need to think differently about what goes on it.
A five-page website saying you’re “professional, innovative and customer focused” doesn’t necessarily answer many customer questions.
Consider creating useful information around:
- Pricing and budgets
- Frequently asked questions
- Comparisons
- Common misconceptions
- Your process
- Who your service is suited to
- Who it may not be suited to
- Locations you service
- Industries you understand
- Common problems
- Buying guides
- Case studies
- Real customer questions
- Detailed service information
This doesn’t mean creating content simply for an algorithm.
It means answering the questions your customers already have.
Your team’s knowledge could become valuable website content
One of the best sources of content may already be inside your business.
Ask your sales team what questions prospects ask every week.
Ask your receptionist what people ring about.
Ask your technicians what customers regularly misunderstand.
Ask your account managers what causes confusion.
Ask your customers what they wanted to know before choosing you.
Those conversations can become useful website content.
And unlike a generic AI-generated article, they contain something valuable:
Your actual experience.
Should businesses change their SEO strategy for AI?
We think businesses should evolve their SEO strategy rather than throw it away.
Traditional search isn’t disappearing.
AI search is another layer.
A strong strategy should increasingly consider:
- How people search Google
- How people ask AI questions
- What questions appear during the buying journey
- What information customers need before making contact
- What makes your business credible
- What information about your business exists across the web
- Whether your website contains genuinely useful answers
SEO, AEO and GEO aren’t completely separate worlds.
They’re increasingly parts of the same challenge:
Helping the right people find useful information about your business.
What is MoMac doing about AI search?
We’re learning, testing and adapting.
AI search is moving quickly, so we’d be wary of anyone claiming to have every answer already.
We’re looking at how businesses appear across AI and traditional search, how customer search behaviour is changing and how website content can better reflect the questions people are actually asking.
We’re also building this thinking into the SEO and content strategies we develop for our clients.
Because although the technology is changing, one principle isn’t:
Understand your customer and give them genuinely useful information.
Is your website ready for the way people search now?
Talk to MoMac about your SEO and content strategy and how we can help your business build visibility across traditional search, AEO and GEO.
