People don't type "best protein powder" into ChatGPT.
They have a conversation like this: "I'm vegan, training for a marathon, and I want to find a protein powder that will mix well with smoothies."
That's the AI search optimization shift happening right now. And most content strategies haven't caught up.
The Traditional SEO Playbook Is Showing Its Age
For 15 years, SEO meant reverse-engineering how people compress their questions into 2-4 word searches. We got good at it. "Best protein powder" has 90,000 monthly searches. Build a page, optimize the title tag, grab some backlinks, rank.
That still is important to do. Google isn't going anywhere.
But ChatGPT SEO and AI search engine optimization play by different rules.
AI Search Is a Conversation, Not a Query
When someone opens ChatGPT or Perplexity, they don't think in keywords. They think out loud. They include their situation, their constraints, their past experiences. And even if they don't specifically include this information in their question, ChatGPT will automatically utilize past memories and conversations when searching on behalf of a user.
The protein powder example isn't hypothetical. It's how people actually talk to AI tools and how they search. And the AI doesn't just match keywords. It tries to understand the full picture, then pulls from content that actually addresses those specifics.
Here's what that means for your AI search optimization strategy: if your content only answers "best protein powder," you're invisible to the vegan marathon runner who likes smoothies. Your page doesn't get cited. Your brand doesn't get mentioned.
What AI Search Optimization Actually Requires
You don't need to blow up your content strategy. You need to expand it.
Keep targeting your core keywords because those searches won't disappear. But layer in the context that AI queries include:
Use cases: Who is this for? A beginner? An athlete? Someone with dietary restrictions?
Constraints: What might disqualify certain options? Budget, allergies, preferences?
Comparisons: How does this stack up against alternatives for specific situations?
Follow-up answers: What would someone ask next after getting the basic answer?
The pages that get pulled into AI responses aren't the ones with the best keyword density. They're the ones that actually address the full question someone would ask a knowledgeable friend.
Content That Wins Both Channels
The good news: content optimized for AI search also ranks well on Google. Long-tail queries have been growing for years. AI search optimization just accelerates that trend.
The bad news: most brands are still cranking out generic "ultimate guides" stuffed with keywords but thin on actual usefulness.
The opportunity is obvious. The execution takes work.
