Google's share of search has dropped below 90% for the first time. AI tools now handle around 13% of US queries, and the people asking them are further down the funnel. Here are the three search worlds your ecommerce brand has to win in.
SEO - Win the page
Search Engine Optimization · Since 1997. For researchers who'll click. Optimising for Google and Bing's classic ranked links. Still the biggest source of qualified ecommerce traffic, but real estate is shrinking as AI Overviews push results down.
How it works: Crawlers index your pages, then around 200 ranking factors decide which 10 blue links appear for each query.
Example query: "best running shoes for flat feet"
What wins:
- Backlinks from trusted domains - still the #1 ranking factor
- Topical authority and depth - cluster pages, don't sprinkle
- Core Web Vitals and crawlability - the technical floor
- Search-intent match - informational vs. commercial
Tools: Ahrefs · Semrush · Search Console · Screaming Frog
Watch out: AI Overviews now appear above the blue links on around 30% of ecommerce queries. A #1 rank no longer means a #1 click.
Measure with: Organic sessions. Keyword rank. Conversions.
Your 5-step CMO action plan
- 1
Audit organic visibility
Set your SEO baseline before anything else.
- 2
Add FAQ and HowTo schema
The fastest AEO win you'll get this quarter.
- 3
Publish original data and opinions
AEO and GEO both reward primary research.
- 4
Earn mentions on trusted sites
G2, Reddit, industry listicles, Wikipedia.
- 5
Track your brand inside the LLMs
What you don't measure, you can't influence.