Two Ways People Now Find Your Business Online
Not long ago, the search landscape was simple: if someone wanted to find a business, they typed a query into Google and clicked a result. Your job was to appear in those results.
That’s still true — but it’s no longer the whole picture. A growing proportion of Australians are now using AI-powered search tools — including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, and Microsoft Copilot — as either a complement to or replacement for traditional Google searches.
Understanding the difference between how these platforms work, and what they mean for your business, is increasingly important.
How Traditional Search Works
Google’s traditional search works by crawling the web, indexing pages, and ranking them according to hundreds of signals — including relevance, authority, page quality, user experience, and backlinks.
When someone searches, Google returns a list of ranked links. The user clicks through to a website. Your business benefits when your website ranks highly for relevant search terms.
Optimising for traditional search is what SEO has always been about: keywords, content quality, technical performance, backlinks, and local signals.
How AI Search Works
AI search tools work differently. Rather than returning a list of links, they generate a direct response to the query — synthesised from multiple sources, presented as a coherent answer.
The user gets a response immediately without necessarily clicking anywhere. If sources are cited, there may be links to the underlying websites. If not, the business that provided the source information may receive no direct traffic at all.
This fundamental difference — synthesised answer vs ranked list — has significant implications.
Key Differences That Matter for Businesses
Click-Through Behaviour
Traditional search: user sees results, chooses a link, visits a website.
AI search: user receives an answer, may or may not visit any website.
For informational queries, AI search reduces the click-through that traditional search generated. For commercial queries (“best electrician in Ballarat”), AI tools are more likely to present a list of businesses with links — behaving more like a traditional search.
How Businesses Are Included
Traditional search: your website ranks based on SEO signals.
AI search: your business gets included when the AI’s training data and live web sources identify you as credible, relevant, and reliable.
Being included in AI search results depends on your broader digital presence — your website content, your reputation across the web, your reviews, your mentions in credible publications, and the quality of information available about your business online.
The Type of Queries
Traditional search handles a broader range of query types, including highly specific navigational searches ("westlegacygroup.com.au/"), image searches, local map results, and shopping queries.
AI search tends to excel at conversational queries, complex questions, comparisons, and research tasks. “What should I look for when choosing an SEO agency for my small business?” is a more natural AI search query than a traditional keyword.
What Stays the Same
Despite the differences, the fundamentals of a strong digital presence matter for both:
- Quality content that genuinely answers client questions
- Clear, authoritative information about your business, services, and expertise
- Strong reviews and reputation across multiple platforms
- Consistent, accurate business information across the web
- A technically sound, fast-loading website
Businesses that invest in these foundations perform well in both traditional and AI search environments.
What to Do Differently for AI Search
To improve your chances of being cited in AI search results:
– Structure content clearly with direct answers near the top
– Use FAQ formats throughout your website
– Earn mentions and citations from credible external sources
– Ensure your business information is consistent and complete everywhere online
– Publish content that demonstrates genuine expertise — not generic overviews
The Integrated Opportunity
For forward-thinking Australian businesses, the emergence of AI search is not a threat — it’s an expanded opportunity to be found by potential clients, in more places, in more contexts. Businesses that build strong digital presences are increasingly being recommended by AI tools in ways that go beyond traditional search visibility.
The businesses that lag are those that treat AI search and traditional search as separate problems requiring completely different solutions. They’re not. They’re both rewarded by the same underlying thing: being a credible, informative, trustworthy online presence.
West Legacy Group helps Australian businesses build digital presences that perform in both traditional and AI search environments.
Contact West Legacy Group to discuss your search strategy.