Bots Are Reading Your Website. Humans Are Judging Your Brand.

Trust is becoming what access to information used to be. A scarce resource.

I read a recent report that expressed shock that the time has already arrived. Bot traffic has now surpassed human traffic on many parts of the web. At first I thought, no kidding. What’s so shocking? If you use AI and ask it any question of substance that requires verification, you’ll see all the sites that bots crawl. At first I thought this was just another tech story, but then I realized I should pay more attention to it.

Most brands invest a lot in capturing attention during search to drive traffic to their site. It’s been that way for years. But if AI increasingly becomes the intermediary between buyers and information, the goal post has moved. Heck, it’s a completely different playing field. Because it’s no longer just a question of how your brand gets found. It’s a question of whether you’re already trusted when you are.

Not so long ago search engines crawled content on sites, returned results, and people clicked through to websites. The good old days. Websites would generate leads and support sales. As marketers and SEO strategists, we optimized our sites around traffic because traffic was the gateway to business results. The website was the destination.
Today, most sites are seeing their traffic dwindle. Visitors aren’t stopping by as much as they used to. If your site has been your digital marketplace, suddenly leads are down and your sales team is asking your marketing team what gives?

AI-generated answers are easy to consume. It takes fewer clicks to get faster answers. Buyers increasingly get information without visiting the source, making the website one step removed from the result.

Here’s the twist and some good news. Building a strong brand is becoming a remedy for this. Information used to be hard to find, today it’s not. Why? Because literally anyone can generate content. It’s like how everyone can become a social media influencer these days because phones and technology made it easy to publish. But just because anyone can publish or produce information doesn’t mean it’s good or that it can be trusted. In fact, trust is becoming what access to information used to be. A scarce resource.

That’s where a strong brand becomes increasingly valuable. A brand that uses memorable and authentic creativity developed by humans using intuition and real-world experiences to develop branded communications will be the brands, companies, and sources most trusted.

For years study after study shows that B2B buyers are more than two-thirds of the way through the buying process before they reach out and become a lead. That means they’re forming opinions and making shortlists through branded social content, branded videos, branded thought leadership, and of course AI zero-click search results.

We’re seeing what the data suggests. The companies that win are often influencing well before buyers become a lead. And now, in an AI-driven world, it’s even more important. If your company appears in an AI search result as an answer or recommendation and that user is familiar with your company, you’ve created a chance to make a connection. Because familiarity and trust determines whether you’re considered and if that initial reach out ever occurs.

Building a brand takes time and requires skill and a willingness to play the long game in order to get results.
The companies investing in visibility, credibility, and creativity at the top of the funnel today are building assets that compound over time. While it’s a fact that not every piece of content or impression generates a lead or creates a sale, all of it contributes to how a company is perceived.

AI is undoubtedly changing how information is discovered. It may even change how websites are used and certainly how leads are generated. But it will never eliminate the need for humans to trust the sources of information that surface in AI results. It actually makes trust more important as information continues to come at us in waves. And building a trusted brand is one of the most important competitive advantages a company can have.