About the Author
Corey Morris is the President and CEO of VOLTAGE, a search marketing and website agency for expertise-driven organizations. He has spent more than two decades in digital marketing and SEO, and he wrote the book on the Digital Marketing Success Plan® (DMSP), the planning process VOLTAGE uses with clients. Corey has published more than 150 articles and expert contributions across Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, and Forbes over nearly a decade, and he still writes regularly for the first two. His Search Engine Journal articles alone have been read nearly 1.7 million times. He has spoken at SMX, Digital Summit, and SMPS. He's also a sought-after podcast and media guest, with more than 75 speaking, podcast, and media appearances. He served as an officer on the board of the global search marketing trade association, founded a Kansas City search marketing conference, and was named the 2019 KCDMA Marketer of the Year.
The top of the funnel is disappearing from search.
Search is shifting under our feet, and generative AI tools and new search engine features are rapidly absorbing top-of-funnel informational queries. When a prospective buyer asks a basic question, they no longer need to click through to a website to get the answer. The search engine generates a comprehensive summary right there on the results page and allows for real-time refinement and further prompting.
For marketing leaders, this shift has caused a significant amount of anxiety. We are watching organic traffic for introductory topics flatten or completely decline, and in response, many teams are doubling down on the old playbook by creating even more generic, top-of-funnel content in a frantic attempt to win back those lost clicks. Content is still important, but the emphasis on its quality and purpose can’t be ignored and traded for a mass of generic content at scale.
This reactive, generic approach to content production is a guaranteed way to burn your budget. If you are spending resources on easily synthesized topics, you will continue to see diminishing returns. The value of top-of-funnel content has fundamentally shifted from driving direct website clicks to driving brand citation and authority, and to protect your pipeline and your return on investment (ROI), you need to strategically reallocate your resources closer to revenue.
The old playbook is failing because AI answers the basic questions.
Funnels are one of the most widely used frameworks in digital marketing, and they give structure to how we think about awareness, consideration and conversion. In the past, casting a wide net at the top of the funnel was a reliable way to capture search traffic and eventually nurture a small percentage of those visitors into qualified leads.
AI models excel at quickly answering basic questions (even if they are often wrong or off target). They aggregate data from across the web and present it instantly. If your digital strategy relies heavily on capturing traffic from users who are just looking for a quick definition, your pipeline is currently at risk, because you are competing directly against the search engine itself.
Over my career in digital marketing, I have seen channels evolve countless times. The businesses that succeed during these transitions are the ones that stop fighting the current and adapt their execution. You need to stop optimizing for basic curiosity and start optimizing for complex decision-making.
You can rebalance your content strategy for AI search in four steps.
To survive and thrive in an AI-driven search environment, we have to fundamentally rethink our content priorities. Here is how we can rebalance the content funnel to protect our visibility and our revenue.
1. Identify the AI gap in your customer journey.
The first step is to objectively evaluate your current content library and identify which pages are built around basic definitions or introductory concepts. Instead of fighting a losing battle for those clicks, look for the gaps that AI cannot fill. Don’t throw away or remove basic educational content if it helps users, but don’t count on it to fill the top of the funnel with traffic from search engines.
AI struggles with nuance, proprietary data and deeply specialized knowledge. Your goal is to map your customer journey and pinpoint the exact moments where buyers need human expertise rather than a synthesized summary.
For example, if you are targeting business-to-business (B2B) buyers and have long sales cycles, your buyers are looking for risk reduction and deep expertise. They will not make a high-stakes purchasing decision based on an AI Overview, and they need the insights that only your team can provide.
2. Shift budget to mid-funnel content.
Once you identify those gaps, move your focus down the funnel, because mid-funnel content is where search visibility is now won. This is where buyers are actively comparing solutions and weighing their options. They are no longer asking basic questions, and they want to know how a specific methodology works or why one approach is better than another.
By investing in detailed comparison guides, case studies and specialized frameworks, you position your brand right where the buying decisions happen. This is the exact type of content that search engines and AI models struggle to generate on their own.
3. Use original research and data.
If you want to become a primary source that AI models and search engines actually cite, you have to publish information that cannot be found anywhere else. Original research is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal.
When you publish proprietary data, annual industry studies or unique surveys, you give search ecosystems a reason to reference your brand. You move from echoing existing information to creating the foundational data that others rely on, and that builds real authority and contributes to the conversations your buyers are researching.
4. Lean heavily into human expertise.
Google’s algorithm looks for strong signals of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), and you cannot fake these signals. Your content can build them by featuring quotes and subject matter expertise from actual experts within your organization, citing reputable sources and highlighting real-world experience.
When you build these trust signals into the mid-funnel content you create, you insulate your strategy against algorithm volatility. Human buyers and search bots alike are looking for credible voices, so make sure yours is the loudest (professionally) and most authentic in the room.
Focus on revenue instead of basic clicks.
The drop in top-of-funnel clicks signals that the rules of engagement have changed, and organic search still has plenty of value. The businesses that will continue to evolve and emerge as leaders in this new era are the ones that stop chasing basic traffic and start optimizing for trust, authority and mid-funnel conversions.
Do not panic over lost clicks. Rebalance your funnel, focus on demonstrating real expertise and start measuring what actually drives business growth. If you want help building that kind of visibility, our AI search services are a good place to start.