Social media is no longer just a channel for building followers or driving occasional website traffic. In 2025, it's rapidly becoming how people discover and research businesses. Nearly half of Gen Z now uses Instagram and TikTok to search for products and information instead of Google. If your social presence isn't ready for this shift, you're missing out on visibility where it counts most.

AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity scan your LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram profiles when recommending businesses. Here’s how to optimise your social media so your brand is found by AI search and your future customers.

Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) helps your business appear in AI search answers on ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity, not just in Google rankings.

As AI Overviews now appear in 13.14% of all search queries (up from just 6.49% in January), search industry leaders are unanimous: structured data isn't optional anymore. From Microsoft's Fabrice Canel emphasising schema's role in helping LLMs understand content, to Google's continued push for structured data implementation, the message is clear. The businesses that thrive in AI-powered search will be those that speak the language these systems understand—and that language is schema markup.

Key Takeaways Box:

• Expert Consensus: Schema markup helps AI systems understand and recommend content

• The Growth: AI Overviews increased from 6.49% to 13.14% of queries in months

• The Evidence: 72% of Google's first-page results use schema markup

• The Advantage: Rich results receive 58% more clicks than standard results

• The Reality: AI tools prioritise structured, easily interpretable content

Every day, ChatGPT processes over 1 billion queries whilst Perplexity handles 780 million monthly searches. Yet for most businesses, these AI-powered search engines might as well not exist—because these tools simply can't find them. Whilst you've been perfecting traditional SEO, AI search has quietly rewritten the rules. These systems don't crawl keywords; they need structured data to understand what your business actually offers. Without schema markup, your website is invisible to the fastest-growing search channels that your competitors are already dominating.

Key Takeaways Box:

• The Problem: AI search engines can't recommend what they can't understand

• The Numbers: ChatGPT handles 1B+ daily queries; Perplexity sees 780M+ monthly

• The Solution: Schema markup helps AI systems interpret your content accurately

• The Opportunity: Only 45M of 193M websites use schema markup effectively

• The Impact: Rich results get 58% more clicks than standard results

The construction industry has always been slow to embrace technological change, but a quiet revolution is underway that could fundamentally alter how projects are awarded. Across government departments, major project management firms, and Tier 1 builders, artificial intelligence is starting to appear in the procurement process.

While traditional Request for Tender processes still dominate, forward-thinking procurement teams are beginning to supplement their research with AI-powered tools. Instead of immediately jumping into formal tender processes, they're starting their research by asking AI tools targeted questions about specific contractor capabilities and experience.

The shift creates a significant challenge for construction companies: most websites were built for humans, not machines. They're filled with marketing language and compelling case studies, but AI tools can't easily interpret marketing fluff. When an AI tool scans your website looking for specific capabilities, it needs clear, structured information about what you build, where you operate, and your proven experience.

Companies that optimise for AI discovery are getting discovered first, while their competitors remain invisible in these preliminary research phases. This creates a temporary but significant competitive advantage for early movers who understand how to make their websites speak both human and robot.

The window for this advantage won't stay open forever, but construction companies who act now can position themselves ahead of the curve in the evolving procurement landscape.

Your website might be perfectly designed for human visitors, but if it can't communicate with AI tools, you're losing business opportunities every day. With 70% of procurement teams now using AI-powered search to find vendors, proper schema markup has become essential for business visibility.

Schema markup is structured data that translates your website into language that AI can understand. Without it, tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overview struggle to identify what services you provide, where you're located, or why prospects should choose you over competitors.

The result? Your business becomes invisible when potential clients ask AI for recommendations. Meanwhile, competitors with properly structured websites are being featured in AI search results and winning projects before you even know opportunities exist.

At Soren HQ, we've seen clients go from AI-invisible to ranking #1 in their industry simply by implementing strategic schema markup. The question isn't whether AI search matters—it's whether your website is ready for it.

HubSpot’s once-mighty blog saw traffic crash from 24M to just 6–7M/month. The culprit? A lethal combo of Google algorithm updates and AI-powered search. If SEO giants like HubSpot can fall, no brand is immune.

What happens when potential customers ask AI tools about your industry? The answer might surprise you. Instead of hundreds of businesses that appear in Google search, AI tools typically recommend just a handful of companies—the ones they can understand and confidently cite.

Many Australian businesses are discovering that prospects who seemed qualified simply never contact them. Often, these prospects have used AI tools for initial research and received recommendations for competitors instead.

With 78% of organisations now using AI in business functions and procurement professionals increasingly using AI for vendor research, being invisible to these systems means missing high-intent prospects who rely on AI recommendations.

The businesses thriving in this environment don't just have good content—they have websites structured for AI comprehension, with proper technical infrastructure including structured data and schema markup that enables confident AI recommendations.

If your analytics show steady traffic but enquiry patterns are changing, this shift might be affecting your business.

Two healthcare practice owners in Brisbane each receive an enquiry on the same morning. The first patient found them through Google. The second was recommended by ChatGPT. Both are looking for the same treatment, but they arrived through completely different search journeys.

This is the new reality of customer discovery in Australia. While Google remains important, 78% of organisations now use AI in at least one business function, and procurement professionals increasingly use AI for vendor research.

The businesses thriving today aren't choosing between Google and AI search—they're mastering both. Traditional SEO focused on keywords and backlinks. Modern search optimisation includes AI-readable content, semantic clarity, and authority signals that help systems like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity recommend your business with confidence.

The companies that integrate both Google and AI optimisation now will build authority that becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to displace.

Many Australian business owners notice something puzzling: website traffic stays steady, but enquiry quality seems different. Prospects who seemed perfect simply never make contact, despite good traffic and strong Google rankings.

The reason: customer research behaviour is fundamentally changing. With 78% of organisations now using AI in business functions, a growing segment of decision-makers use AI tools for research.

These prospects ask AI for recommendations with specific requirements and receive curated suggestions with explanations—bypassing traditional Google search entirely. The businesses thriving in this environment don't just have good content—they have websites structured for both human visitors and AI comprehension.

This includes proper technical infrastructure like structured data and schema markup that enables AI systems to understand their expertise and make confident recommendations. If your analytics show traffic but enquiries aren't following expected patterns, this shift might be affecting your business.

Website traffic steady but leads dropping? The real issue may be invisible. Learn how AI tools are changing how people find and trust service businesses—and what to do about it.