Search behaviour is shifting as AI Overviews change how people look for information and make decisions. People aren’t browsing as much as they used to. Instead of searching “best CRM software” and clicking through multiple search results to find the information they’re looking for, they’ll ask, “Which CRM is best for a 20-person sales team in B2B SaaS?” They’re asking more detailed questions, delegating the research to AI tools, and expecting fast clarity, fewer options, and confident recommendations in return.
Instead of the user doing most of the work, search is becoming more about assigning a task. AI handles the heavy lifting – running multiple searches, processing results, and delivering a summarised response of filtered options. It’s quicker and easier than piecing together an answer yourself, with big implications for content. In an AI-first search environment, content isn’t just ranked. It’s retrieved, summarised and repurposed inside tools like AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
From Searching to Delegating
So what does this mean? It means visibility depends on how well your content answers real questions and how it’s optimised for keywords. If you’ve been relying on organic search traffic from top-of-the-funnel content like “What is X?” or “How does Y work?” – you might be noticing changes. AI Overviews and similar tools might be absorbing some of that traffic by answering questions directly in search results.
Engagement is shifting, and what used to require a website visit can now be handled by AI. Brands that publish clear, comprehensive answers are more likely to be surfaced during research, evaluation and shortlisting. Content that dances around the question or avoids specifics might get ignored. When users do land on your site, they’re often further along in their decision-making process – with more specific questions and higher intent, expecting clear navigation and messaging that helps them take the next step.
They Ask, You Answer (TAYA)
They Ask, You Answer (TAYA) is a marketing framework by Marcus Sheridan that’s built around the idea that if your customers are asking a question, you should answer it honestly and clearly on your site. TAYA focuses on five core content areas that consistently perform well in both traditional SEO and AI-driven search:
- Cost and pricing: What does it cost? Even if pricing is custom, explain what affects the price. What’s expensive and why? Transparency builds trust.
- Problems and drawbacks: Who is it not for? Where does it fall short? Being honest about limitations is more credible than endless positivity.
- Comparisons: What’s best for specific use cases? Buyers are weighing options – give them the honest X vs Y, alternatives and trade-offs.
- Reviews and ratings: People trust peer opinions – allow for honest ratings and don’t handpick reviews.
- Best-of content: Acknowledge competitors’ strengths to show you care about the right fit over sales.
Common Mistakes
Here’s where a lot of brands go wrong when it comes to the TAYA framework…
- Avoiding hard questions or uncomfortable topics – drawbacks, limitations, and “who it’s not for” get skipped or watered down.
- Being too guarded about pricing – hinting at costs or making people request a bespoke quote can turn people away (at least give a ballpark range).
- Stopping at surface-level generic answers – specific examples, numbers, decision contexts, and real use cases provide the depth that people (and AI) actually need.
- Burying the answer – key information is hidden halfway down the page instead of being stated clearly upfront.
- Sugar-coating everything – it’s hard to build trust if you only talk about the positives and avoid mentioning problems.
- Fear of comparison – reluctance to compare against competitors or alternatives loses trust and visibility (be honest about when competitors might be a better fit).
The heart of it is about putting the customer first – thinking less like a marketer and more like a helpful advisor. Brands that avoid these topics or questions often do so out of fear. Brands that embrace them tend to win trust earlier in the journey. And these topics aren’t just good for users – they’re exactly the kind of detailed, structured information that AI tools need to understand your business and recommend it when relevant.
Writing for Humans
Good content still needs good structure. AI models don’t read like humans do – they extract passages, not pages. That makes formatting just as important as writing quality. Google has been clear that they don’t want content dumbed down or fragmented just for AI consumption, though. Helpful, reliable, people-first content is still the goal.
Here are some formatting principles that are advised:
- Use clear, descriptive, question-based headings
- Keep paragraphs focused on one idea at a time
- Include summary sections that directly answer the query
- Use bullet points for details
- Use tables where comparison or clarity matters
- Don’t hide important answers deep inside long narratives.
This kind of structure helps AI confidently pull accurate answers and it also improves scannability for human readers.
The Last Word
The fundamentals haven’t changed. If your content genuinely helps people (and answers real customer questions clearly), is structured for easy retrieval and doesn’t shy away from the hard topics, it’s already aligned with where search is heading. The only difference now is that AI acts as an intermediary – summarising and surfacing your content when users ask questions. If you want to sense-check whether your content is visible and accessible to AI tools, the Herdl team can help you map the gaps and opportunities.