5 Ways to Win Visibility in the Age of AI Search: What B2B Industrial Marketers Should Do Now to Stay Search-Relevant

With generative AI now embedded in search engines, platforms like Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT browsing capabilities, B2B industrial manufacturers face a shift in digital discovery; a search landscape where your website may never get the click, but your content still needs to influence the results.

So how do industrial brands remain discoverable and drive meaningful engagement in a world where clicks may no longer be the end goal?

Some basic background:

As we shared back in November, the first generation of AI Overviews coming from Google were inconsistent and sometimes just plain wrong. But, as with most AI technology it has quickly improved, and the rise of AI-generated answers with zero clicks is becoming reality.

This evolution means that Search is no longer just about working to achieve that coveted first page ranking. AI-generated answers are retrieving quality insights directly in the search results, and often with enough information that a user doesn’t need to click through to any additional websites.

This new behavior is what many digital marketers are calling the "zero-click" future. This is a world where brand visibility, authority, and content usefulness must stand on their own, even when your website does not appear in the answer.

For B2B industrial marketers, this means thinking about content generation in a slightly new way. Here are five approaches you can implement now.

1. Structure Your Content to Be Machine-Readable

AI systems pull information from content that is easy to understand, clearly formatted, and rich in context. That means:

• Use clear headlines (H1s, H2s) that define topics explicitly.
• Write in concise, jargon-free language that communicates value quickly.
• Add schema markup and structured data (like FAQ, Product, or HowTo schema) where relevant to help machines interpret your pages more accurately.

2. Double Down on Topic Authority

AI doesn’t just randomly source content, it picks trusted, credible content. That means your brand needs to:

• Publish regularly on the specific challenges, technologies, and solutions relevant to your industries.
• Build depth around priority topics and share your unique point of view on those topics. that demonstrate subject matter expertise.
• Use internal linking to connect related articles and signal thematic relevance.
• Grow your domain authority by earning relevant backlinks from reputable industry publications, associations and partner sites that link to that content.

3. Create AI-Ready Content for Every Stage of the Buying Journey

Intent data and search behavior show that B2B buyers don’t just search for vendors, they search for problems, solutions and comparisons. Craft content that models typical buyer pain points, like:

• Glossaries and definitions – especially for industry jargon. They reinforce topical authority and help AI match content to search intent.
• Create FAQs organized by buying stage.
• Comparison documentation that outlines differentials between you and your competitors or competing technologies.

These are some of the typical queries AI systems summarize. Creating this type of content in a concise, educational format increases the likelihood your brand will be included or featured in AI-generated answers.

4. Don’t Rely on the Website Alone

Zero-click doesn’t mean zero influence. Your content must show up wherever AI systems (and buyers) are consuming content.

• Publish on LinkedIn, where thought leadership often surfaces in AI summaries.
• Contribute to reputable industry publications to extend your reach and thought leadership, while boosting brand mentions and your website’s domain authority.
• Build out your video content and make sure you are posting on YouTube.
• Prioritize SEO for Bing. While Google continues to maintain its dominant market share, ChatGPT has been using Microsoft Bing’s search index to access web content.

The goal is to make sure your content is discoverable across channels and platforms where both AI systems and human decision makers are looking for answers.

5. Measure More Than Clicks

As AI answers reduce traditional website traffic, your metrics need to evolve. Start tracking:

• Brand mentions in AI-generated summaries and external content.
• Referral traffic from tools like ChatGPT & Perplexity.
• Engagement quality over quantity—especially on channels like email and LinkedIn.
• Changes in your site’s Domain Authority over time.

This helps you understand how your content performs in a world where visibility doesn’t always translate to web visits.

It’s Time to Think Beyond Search Engine Optimization

The traditional SEO playbook isn’t dead, but it’s no longer enough. B2B industrial marketers must pivot from chasing clicks to shaping answers. That means thinking beyond keywords. Just as SEO best-practice has always advocated, the goal should be to create content that is clear, differentiating, has strong authority and is ultimately engaging for the audience.

As this landscape evolves, marketers should test, measure, and adapt—staying tuned into how AI systems surface content and reward authority. Godfrey can help you build content that earns visibility—even when there’s no click. Let’s talk about how to get started!