Artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed how people discover information online, but after attending the American Marketing Association’s SEO and AI Search: Challenges, Opportunities and New Strategies for Visibility, led by practitioners, researchers, and educators, I learned more about how AI is shifting the digital marketing landscape.
Current conversations about marketing are often around SEO in ways that focus on tactics: optimizing for AI Overviews, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), and how to remain visible when generative AI increasingly mediates search. While these questions remain important, I found it was more interesting to listen to how marketers should be rethinking how visibility, trust, and customer engagement function in an AI-mediated world.
We Are No Longer Marketing Only to People
One of the most thought-provoking discussions centered on a deceptively simple question: Who are we actually trying to influence now?
Historically, marketers optimized content for human audiences while ensuring search engines could index it effectively. AI search introduces another stakeholder—the AI agent itself.
Increasingly, generative AI systems are evaluating, summarizing, and recommending content before a human ever visits a website. This means our audiences now include both people and machines.
Rather than replacing human-centered marketing, this shift challenges us to produce content that is:
- factually accurate
- contextually rich
- well-structured
- easily interpreted by AI systems
- genuinely valuable for readers
While human-centric marketing remains important, my biggest take-away was this: Write for humans first, but optimize content so that AI can understand it.
As Beth Vallone reminded us,
“Markets are made of people. So how do we connect with people?”
Search Is Becoming an Answer Engine: SEO strategies
Last year, I completed the MOZ SEO Essentials Certification and found it interesting how we can apply keywords to various pages, descriptions, titles, HTMLs, and more to make our content discoverable to search engine models. Today, as AI augments our search results, the same SEO applications remain ever more important because our online discoverability continues to depend not just on keywords but:
- structured content
- schema markup
- topical authority
- trustworthy sources
- consistent expertise
- semantic relationships
AI models are increasingly rewarding content that demonstrates authority rather than simply matching search phrases. Much of the conversation focused on AI agents, generative search, automation, and what many are calling Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). In this digital era, augmented by AI, visibility is becoming less about gaming algorithms and more about earning credibility.
AI Is Reshaping Marketing Workflows
One of the strongest moments of the session came from Greg Moon, CEO of WalkWest, who challenged us to rethink not only marketing outputs but the way marketing organizations themselves operate.
As he bluntly stated,
“AI doesn’t really give a damn about your process or your chart. It only focuses on the outcomes.”
For years, marketing teams have organized themselves around specialized functions—content creators, SEO specialists, analysts, media buyers, and designers. AI is beginning to blur those boundaries. The question is no longer whether AI can complete individual tasks; it is whether our existing workflows still make sense in a world where those tasks can increasingly be automated.
AI excels at accelerating repetitive processes:
- drafting content
- summarizing information
- organizing research
- generating initial ideas
- automating production tasks
The most successful organizations will likely be those that redesign workflows rather than simply insert AI into existing processes.
Trust Is Marketing’s Greatest Competitive Advantage
As AI-generated content proliferates across the web, consumers may increasingly struggle to distinguish authentic expertise from automated production.
This raises important questions:
- Should organizations disclose AI use?
- How transparent should brands be?
- What governance policies build long-term credibility?
Several participants argued that AI governance is no longer simply a legal or compliance issue.
It is becoming a brand equity issue. Nicole Alexander argued that organizations should think of AI governance as more than a compliance issue. She suggested that current practices risk prioritizing efficiency over credibility, observing that:
“We’re essentially spending our long-term trust capital to fund our short-term efficiency gains.”
That point is particularly relevant as AI-generated content becomes increasingly common. Visibility alone is unlikely to be enough if audiences begin questioning the reliability of what they find. Organizations that prioritize transparency, responsible AI practices, and authentic expertise may ultimately build stronger customer relationships than those chasing short-term efficiencies.
Looking Ahead
The AMA discussion reinforced something I have been observing both in academia and practice:
AI is not replacing marketers, but it is redefining what excellent marketing looks like. Those who thrive won’t necessarily be the fastest adopters of new AI tools, but they will be the professionals who combine technological fluency with strategic judgment, human insight, and an unwavering commitment to creating value.
In an AI-driven search landscape, visibility is no longer earned solely through optimization: it is earned through credibility.
