What happened in Search in 2016 wouldn’t happen in Search in 2026. Even in 2023, users were not asking questions from search engines by typing but by talking. Even now and in the past, search engines do not rank websites; instead, they provide direct answers.  In 2025 and 2026, AI-first searches scour the entire web, providing instant summaries. The old game of stuffing...

AI search has changed how people discover information. They’re not typing broken keywords anymore. They’re asking full questions and expecting one clean, direct response. This shift has opened the door to a new discipline: answer engine optimization, a strategy meant to help brands show up inside AI-generated answers across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot. But...