AI Search
Your customers are asking AI, not just Google. Here is what AI search is, why it matters, and how we get your business found in it.
By Cathy Mellett • Founder & Managing Director, Net Branding Limited
AI search is search powered by artificial intelligence, where tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity answer the question directly instead of handing back a list of links. Rather than matching keywords, these tools read the meaning and intent behind a question and respond in conversation. Getting found in AI search means being the business the AI understands, trusts and names, and that is exactly what we help you do.
Something big has shifted in how people look for things. More and more, your customers are not scrolling a page of blue links, they are asking ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity a question and acting on whatever it tells them. We have been helping businesses get found online since 2008, through every change along the way, and AI search is simply the latest, and one of the biggest. This page walks you through what it is and how we help you show up in it.
Want to be found in AI search? Call the Net Branding team on 09 523 0478 or visit netbranding.co.nz.
What is AI search?
Let us define it plainly. An AI search engine is a search tool powered by artificial intelligence, things like natural language processing and large language models, that works quite differently from the Google you grew up with. Instead of matching the keywords you typed, it reads the context, intent and meaning behind your question, and answers it in a conversational way. It can handle messy, complex questions and follow-ups, and it pulls together an answer rather than just pointing you at ten links to go and read yourself.
How is AI search different from traditional search?
The difference really comes down to keywords versus meaning. Traditional search engines matched the words in your query to pages that contained those words. That worked, but the results could be generic, and they struggled with anything nuanced or conversational. AI search understands what you actually meant, weighs context and intent, and gives you a tailored answer. And here is the part that matters for your business: the way you get found has changed with it. It is no longer just about keyword density and backlinks, it is about how clearly an AI can interpret and trust your content.
| Traditional search | AI search |
|---|---|
| Matches the keywords you typed | Reads the meaning and intent behind your question |
| Hands back a list of links | Answers directly, in conversation |
| You do the reading and comparing | The AI compares and recommends for you |
| You win by ranking a page | You win by being understood, trusted and named |
Where does AI search happen?
It is worth knowing the main places your customers are now asking questions, because each one is a chance to be found:
- ChatGPT: OpenAI’s assistant, now with its own web search built in.
- Google AI Overviews and AI Mode: Google’s own AI summaries, sitting right at the top of the results.
- Gemini: Google’s AI assistant, woven through its products.
- Perplexity: a research-focused answer engine that cites its sources as it goes.
- Copilot and Claude: Microsoft’s and Anthropic’s assistants, increasingly part of how people search and decide.
AI search terms, explained simply
This corner of marketing is full of acronyms, and most explanations make them sound harder than they are. So here is a plain-English glossary of the terms you will keep bumping into, in the way we would explain them to you across the desk.
- AI search: search where an AI reads the meaning behind your question and answers it directly, instead of just handing you a list of links.
- LLM (large language model): the kind of AI behind tools like ChatGPT. It has been trained on enormous amounts of text so it can understand a question and write a human-sounding answer. When people say “the AI,” this is usually what they mean.
- Generative AI: AI that creates something new, an answer, a summary, an image, rather than just retrieving an existing page. AI search is generative AI applied to search.
- AI Overviews and AI Mode: Google’s own AI-written summaries that now sit at the very top of the results, above the usual links.
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation): the work of getting your business cited inside the answers generative AI creates.
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation): shaping your content so it gets chosen as the direct answer to a specific question, including in voice search.
- AI SEO: the broad, practical term for everything that gets you found and cited across AI search. GEO and AEO sit underneath it.
- Retrieval (and RAG): when an AI looks things up from the live web before answering, rather than relying only on what it learned in training. RAG, retrieval-augmented generation, is the technical name for it. It is a big part of why being findable and trustworthy online matters so much now.
- Entity: how AI understands who or what something is, your business as a distinct, recognised thing, not just a string of words. Clear entity signals help AI know it is really you.
- Hallucination: when an AI confidently says something that is wrong or made up. It is exactly why AI leans on clear, trustworthy sources, and why being one of those sources is worth the effort.
- Citation and mention: a citation is when the AI points people to your site as a source; a mention is when it names your business in an answer. Both are what we are working towards.
- Prompt: simply the question or instruction someone types into an AI tool. The real prompts your customers use are what we build your content around.
Why does AI search matter for your business?
Because if the AI answers the question without ever mentioning you, you have lost the customer before they even knew you existed. When someone asks an AI who they should hire or buy from, the business it names is the one that gets the enquiry, and ranking number one on Google does not save you, because an AI summary now sits above that result anyway. The flip side is the opportunity: most of your competitors have not got their house in order for AI search yet, so the businesses that act now build an advantage that is genuinely hard to catch.
How do you get found in AI search?
This is where we come in. Getting found in AI search is the job of our AI SEO service, and it comes down to making your business easy for AI to understand, trust and cite. In practice that means clear, answer-first content, structured data that spells out who you are, strong authority signals across the web, and ongoing measurement so you can see your visibility actually moving. If you are not sure where you stand today, an AI Search Readiness Audit is the place to start, and from there our AI SEO and monthly visibility services do the work.
Want to know how visible you are right now? Call the Net Branding team on 09 523 0478 or visit netbranding.co.nz.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI search?
AI search is search powered by artificial intelligence, where tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity answer your question directly instead of giving you a list of links. They read the meaning behind a question rather than just matching keywords.
How is AI search different from Google?
Traditional Google search matched the keywords you typed and gave you links. AI search understands what you actually meant and answers in conversation. Google itself now does this too, through AI Overviews and AI Mode at the top of its results.
How do I get my business found in AI search?
By making your business easy for AI to understand, trust and cite: clear answer-first content, structured data, authority signals and ongoing measurement. That is our AI SEO service, and most clients start with an AI Search Readiness Audit.
Do I still need traditional SEO?
Yes. Google still drives most search traffic in New Zealand, so ranking well still matters. Getting found in AI search adds a second layer on top, so you are covered across both the search engines and the answer engines.
What is an LLM, and what does it have to do with search?
An LLM, or large language model, is the type of AI behind tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. It is trained on huge amounts of text so it can understand a question and write a natural answer. AI search is what happens when these models are used to answer search queries directly, which is why getting found now means being something the LLM understands and trusts.
Where should I start?
With a Net Branding AI Search Readiness Audit. It shows you exactly how visible you are to AI search today, and gives you a clear, prioritised plan to improve it.
Ready to get found in AI search? Call the Net Branding team on 09 523 0478 or visit netbranding.co.nz.