13 August 2026·SEO · AEO · Marketing
The new search funnel: SEO strategies for AI-powered discovery
How discovery changed when AI Overviews and chat answers sit above the SERP — and the SEO moves that still move pipeline.
The funnel did not die. It got a new top.
People still research. They start more often in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google AI Overviews — then visit a shortlist of named brands.
What changed
| Old top of funnel | New top of funnel | | --- | --- | | Query → 10 links → browse | Query → generated answer → 0–3 cited brands | | CTR wars | Citation / mention wars | | Ranking reports | Ranking plus answer presence |
Industry webinars and posts (including NP Digital’s framing of AI-powered discovery) keep repeating: traditional SEO still matters; it is no longer the whole game.
Practical SEO moves for AI discovery
- Write pages models can quote — clear claims, definitions, numbers
- Strengthen entity signals (About, schema, consistent NAP/brand)
- Ship comparison content that answers “vs” prompts honestly
- Keep technical SEO healthy so crawlers and answer engines can fetch you
- Measure named mentions, not only sessions
AppTime angle
We build the Cite product for the measurement gap — and we build the sites, extensions, and content systems that make recognition earnable.
Need this done for your product?
Cite waitlist, SaaS rescue, agents, extensions, or a security pass — tell us what you are building.
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