How to Adapt to the Rise of AI-Driven Search

When Marshfield Clinic’s organic search traffic hit a low point, the digital team optimized the health system’s content using schema markup.

// By Devin Healy //

Artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes how audiences find information online and changes the way marketers approach search engine strategies. AI is not a new concept within search engines, but its use has accelerated exponentially over the past couple of years.

“Search engines have been using advanced AI technologies for a long time,” says Martha van Berkel, CEO and cofounder of Schema App. “If you look at Google’s evolution, they’ve been implementing AI-driven updates like neural matching, BERT, and MUM for years. But the real shift happened when OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022. That’s when the conversation around AI in SEO exploded.”

Martha van Berkel, CEO and cofounder of Schema App

Then in 2024 Google introduced AI Overviews, causing a staggering rise in zero-click searches. Recent industry data suggests that up to 50 percent of online searches begin and end on the search results page.

For healthcare marketers who honed their skills on established SEO and SEM practices, the proliferation of AI search models raises a crucial question: How do you adapt?

Read on to learn how to restructure your website content to align with AI models, and how Marshfield Clinic Health System reoriented to these new realities.

Log in below to access this content: