AI Search Is Becoming More Clickable

Google’s latest updates continue to reinforce a trend we’ve been seeing for some time: search visibility is increasingly favouring original brands, trusted sources, and companies with genuine expertise.

One of the biggest changes is how links now appear within AI-generated search results. Google is expanding inline citations and contextual links inside AI Overviews, making it easier for users to click directly through to referenced sources. In practical terms, this means authoritative brands and publishers may gain more visibility directly within AI-driven search experiences.

First-Party Brands Are Gaining Visibility

Recent analysis of Google’s March Core Update suggests aggregator and discussion-based platforms are losing ground, while first-party brands and official company websites are gaining visibility. Sites that own the product, service, or expertise appear to be benefiting more than sites simply commenting on them.

For B2B companies, this represents an important shift in how organic authority is built online. Websites increasingly need to demonstrate genuine expertise within their specialist areas through stronger EEAT signals: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

B2B brands that have relied heavily on user-generated content or aggregator-style visibility without developing clear authority signals may begin to see weaker SEO performance over time.

SEO Is Increasingly About Authority

Search is moving away from generic content and increasingly rewarding:

• – Original expertise
• – Strong brand signals
• – Clear topical authority
• – First-party insights and data
• – Trustworthy, experience-led content

The implication is clear: SEO success is no longer just about publishing more content. Increasingly, it’s about demonstrating credibility, depth, and ownership within a niche.

Technical SEO Still Matters in an AI-Driven Web

Google also reinforced that AI-generated websites and “vibe-coded” projects still require solid technical SEO foundations. According to Google’s John Mueller, AI tools may accelerate website creation, but they still struggle with core SEO elements such as crawlability, canonicalisation, and site architecture unless properly managed.

This highlights a growing gap between quickly generating content and building search-ready digital platforms that can perform sustainably.

What This Means for B2B Brands

Taken together, these updates point towards a broader direction for search: SEO is becoming more closely tied to brand authority, technical quality, and genuine expertise, particularly within AI-powered search environments.

For B2B brands, the opportunity lies in building content ecosystems that combine technical SEO, subject matter expertise, and strong brand positioning, rather than relying on volume-driven publishing strategies.