The rise of AI-powered search engines like Perplexity is prompting a lot of questions from Australian SMEs – particularly around whether the SEO work you’ve already invested will continue to deliver results. The short answer is: it’s evolving, not disappearing. Your existing SEO foundations are valuable, but we need to adapt our thinking.

Traditional search engine optimisation focused heavily on ranking for specific keywords. We built content around these terms, optimised website structure, and chased backlinks. While these elements remain important, AI search engines operate differently. They aim to *answer* questions directly, often synthesising information from multiple sources, rather than simply listing links. This changes the game.

Here’s what we’re seeing that matters for your marketing strategy:

• Content Depth & Authority: AI prioritises comprehensive, well-researched content. Think beyond blog posts; consider guides, original research, and detailed FAQs. Demonstrating expertise is crucial.
• Structured Data is Even More Important: Schema markup helps AI understand the *meaning* of your content, not just the keywords. This improves your chances of being included in AI-generated answers.
• Focus on Question-Based Keywords: People interact with AI search engines using natural language questions. We need to optimise for these longer-tail, conversational queries.
• E-A-T Signals Remain Key: Google’s emphasis on Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) is amplified with AI. AI engines need to confidently assess the quality of information.

Don’t abandon your existing SEO efforts. Instead, augment them. Think of AI search as another channel, requiring a slightly different approach to content creation and optimisation. We’re already seeing businesses that proactively adapt their content strategy to address user intent – the ‘why’ behind the search – are faring best.

The next step is to analyse your current top-performing content and identify opportunities to expand on it, providing more in-depth answers to common customer questions. Consider a content audit focused on question phrasing and structured data implementation. This will position you to capture visibility in both traditional and AI-powered search results.