Discoverability Optimization: A Rebrand For Modern SEO
There’s no denying that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has changed. It goes without saying (but I’m going to anyway) that the launch of ChatGPT, the adoption of Answer Engines, and the inclusion of AI overviews in search results have sent search professionals spinning. While AI has played a key role in shifting the industry, this new direction isn’t just about AI; it’s about much more.
Though the objective hasn’t changed—be found by users searching for solutions—the starting point has. SEO has historically meant optimizing for Google because it just so happened that’s where most people started their search. Increasingly, this is no longer the case as users are turning to a variety of other platforms to seek answers.
And while AI has made a splash as a popular new alternative to search engines, marketers were optimizing for more niche platforms years before ChatGPT made its grand entrance. There are specialists for YouTube optimization, app store optimization, and even site search specialists. Now more than ever, discovery happens everywhere, and optimizing for just one platform simply isn’t enough. That’s why SEO needs a rebranding—DO: Discoverability Optimization.
From search to discoverability: why SEO must go beyond Google
According to a recent Statcounter estimate, Google has a commanding search market share of nearly 90%, a position it has held for nearly a decade. Their dominance has been so accepted that when people need information, they don’t search the internet; they "Google it."
But this positioning doesn’t tell the full story. These reports only compare Google’s market share to that of Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines like Yandex and DuckDuckGo. This narrow sample ignores a competitive subset of platforms where users actively search. People are still searching, they just aren’t always using a search engine to do it.
For example, YouTube was not included in Statcounter’s estimate, but it’s frequently positioned as the second-largest search engine. Debatable, yes, but it still has more searches than Yahoo or Bing. Additionally, recent studies show Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram to search for everything from probiotics to Halloween costumes. In fact, 18 to 24-year-olds are turning to Social Search more frequently than Google Search.
There are dozens of other platforms where people search for content—Reddit, app stores, Spotify, to name a few—and if they were included in market share reports, Google would have a far less commanding lead.
How ChatGPT sparked a new era of SEO and online search
Though all of this has been true for years, the launch of ChatGPT catalyzed the transformation. Suddenly, there was an exciting new way to interact with the internet, and it had unavoidable parallels to search engines. While our experience with clients indicates that LLMs still account for only single-digit percentages of traffic, the precipitous adoption of AI has led to some truly useful and timely discussions about discoverability.
It was the launch of ChatGPT that forced internet users to ask themselves, “Why should I start my search on Google?” More and more, they’re finding compelling reasons to look elsewhere for more nuanced results.
In the wake of this changing user behavior, AI has prompted a long-overdue reevaluation of what SEO means and how it’s done. Should we be optimizing for answer engines? What other platforms should we be optimizing for?
The expanding role of discovery beyond Google search
Underpinning all of this is a behavioral truth that hasn’t changed: users need to be able to find content. The internet provides an endless supply of fascinating articles, engaging experiences, and useful platforms that enhance our lives. But unless you magically know the exact name of a website or brand like Apollo.io or Bombora, how do you find the information or solution you’re looking for?
The answer is to search for it, but (as I’ve mentioned already) search engines are just one mode of content discovery. You can find answers just as effectively with social search or answer engines. Each platform serves as a portal to content. Where Google is an entry point to websites, YouTube is a portal to videos, and Facebook is a doorway to user-generated content.
And at the heart of it all, algorithms are regularly deciding what we do and don’t see. After all, you wouldn’t want to read the entire internet, even if you had the time to do so (at least I wouldn’t). You’re only there for what interests you. If you’re learning to bake sourdough, the Wikipedia page on Henry VIII’s third wife won’t be of much use. That’s why most of the content we are exposed to is decided by algorithms.
Adapting SEO strategies for answer engines and algorithms
Which brings us back to the core principles of SEO. Whenever claims that "SEO is dead" make headlines, the wisest souls posit that ‘wherever an algorithm is making decisions, optimization will occur.’ In other words, if an algorithm is choosing what you should see first and what you should see second, the factors that go into that decision can be influenced. That influence is what we call optimization.
The growth of Answer Engine Optimization has provided a clear example of this in action. Answer engines Claude or Perplexity synthesize information quickly and coherently, but from what sources? And how does it decide which of those sources to filter out? In other words, what is the algorithm, and what is influencing it?
The answers can be found by following the standard loop SEOs have trusted for the past 20 years:
- Measure
- Experiment
- Repeat
These steps will reveal the factors used to determine what is or isn’t shown in search results. With that knowledge, you can optimize your own content for discoverability, regardless of platform.
Why SEO isn’t dead—it’s evolving across platforms
A rebrand of SEO has been long overdue. The industry no longer belongs in a box defined by Google. Its scope has always been broader, shaped by countless factors and evolving user behaviors. Today, SEOs are already optimizing across answer engines, apps, and social platforms—everywhere discovery happens. By expanding the definition, we give the discipline the credit it deserves and the flexibility it needs to thrive in a world where users start and finish their journeys on many different platforms.
Rebranding SEO isn’t about replacing Google with AI. It’s about aligning the discipline with the future of discovery.
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