How AI Search and Chatbots Are Changing the Way Manufacturers Win Customers

Online research as we’ve known it for decades is going through a major upheaval. Tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews and the newer AI Mode are fundamentally changing how buyers and engineers look for technical solutions. For many manufacturers who have paid little attention to their online visibility so far, this is a wake-up call.

And the opportunity is huge: one of our clients, a machine manufacturer from Bavaria, now gets more than half of all new inquiries through its website, found through search, with inquiries coming in from around the world. But if you want to stay visible tomorrow, you need more than one approach.

The status quo: what has really changed on Google

Traditional Google search with blue links and ads still exists. But Google has changed. For many queries, especially informational ones like “What is CNC turning?”, an AI Overview now appears at the very top.

The zero-click effect

AI answers reduce clicks. According to the Pew Research Center (US, July 2025), users who see an AI summary on Google click on a result in only 8% of visits, compared with 15% when there is none (source).

That sounds dramatic at first, but it has one key upside: the users who do end up clicking through to your website have already gone through a research process. They often arrive better informed. Demand isn’t shrinking. Only the way people gather information is changing.

Deep dive: Google AI Mode and chatbots in practice

Google has gone one step further with AI Mode, which launched in the US first. Here, Google switches from a results page to a true chatbot mode, similar to ChatGPT or Perplexity.

ChatGPT as a research tool

For complex queries, ChatGPT’s deep research mode does in-depth web research (for example, “Looking for a Swiss-type lathe for bar stock up to 15 mm diameter and 1,000 mm length”). It searches in the background for minutes, compares manufacturers and builds comparison tables.

If your precise technical data isn’t online, you simply won’t appear in these AI-generated comparison tables.

Strategy 1: visibility in AI search

AI assistants like ChatGPT often rely on traditional search engines (such as Bing) for their web research. That’s why traditional SEO remains the foundation.

Use your customers’ language

Use the terms your customers use. An example from the German market: engineers write “Wärmeübertrager,” while buyers search for “Wärmetauscher.” Both mean heat exchanger. If you only use the technical term, you ignore real demand, and AI is less likely to suggest you as a relevant solution.

Structured data (schema.org)

For your technical details to be understood (spindle speed, travel, dimensions), you should provide them as structured data (JSON-LD). This is code written not for people but for machines. It helps search engines, whose results AI tools draw on, match your machine to a specific query.

Strategy 2: generative engine optimization (GEO)

GEO is about getting AI tools to name you as a supplier: through what they find in search when the question is asked, and over the long term through what models learn in training. The training part only changes at long intervals, so it takes patience.

Digital footprint: The more often your brand is associated with certain topics across the internet, the “truer” that connection becomes for the AI model.

Your core messages: Define clear statements about what you make, for whom and to which standards, and use them consistently on your website, in interviews, on LinkedIn and in trade articles.

Ranking factors for AI: where to start

Which sources AI systems cite, and why, isn’t fully transparent. These factors are a sensible place to start:

Readability: Clear, simply written texts are easier for people and machines to understand than convoluted jargon.

Domain authority: Traditional SEO strength (backlinks) remains important.

Depth: Thorough, helpful content answers more of the questions buyers actually ask than a thin page does.

A head start for early movers

Many manufacturers are still slow to react, which gives early movers a head start in AI search. If you do your homework on SEO, use structured data and grow your digital footprint, the new way of searching won’t push you aside. You improve your chances of being among the suppliers AI names.

In our assessment, digital sales channels will play a growing role in who wins in global markets.