There was a time when people chose businesses by looking through the Yellow Pages, asking a neighbour or driving past a shopfront.
Then the internet arrived.
At first, having a website was something progressive businesses did. Eventually, it became something almost every business needed. The same happened with smartphones. What began as new technology quickly changed the way we communicated, searched, shopped and lived.
But those changes happened over years.
AI is moving much faster.
In an incredibly short period of time, AI has gone from something most people had barely heard of to something being used every day to write emails, research products, plan holidays, compare services, answer questions and make purchasing decisions.
And this is only the beginning.
AI technology is developing at a speed we haven’t experienced before. The way people search for businesses could change more in the next few years than it did during decades of internet development.
That creates a new challenge for business owners.
Your website is no longer just for people
Google changed the way customers found businesses. Businesses learned that if they couldn’t be found online, they risked becoming invisible.
Now AI is beginning to change the way people decide who to choose.
Instead of searching Google, opening five websites and comparing businesses themselves, customers can increasingly ask:
“Who’s the best company near me for this?”
“Which business would you recommend?”
“Who has the best reputation?”
“What’s the best option for my budget?”
AI may do much of the research before the customer ever visits a website.
That means your website has another audience: the technology helping your customers make decisions.
It needs to clearly explain who you are, what you do, where you operate, what questions you answer and why your business should be trusted. Reviews, FAQs, helpful content, accurate information, SEO and authority all become increasingly important.
Keeping up matters
History has shown us what happens when businesses underestimate technological change.
Businesses that dismissed the internet eventually had to catch up. Businesses that ignored mobile-friendly websites found customers moving elsewhere. Businesses that relied entirely on traditional ways of attracting customers discovered that buying behaviour had changed around them.
AI could accelerate that cycle dramatically.
The danger isn’t necessarily that AI will replace your business.
It’s that a competitor will understand how to use it and become easier to find, understand and choose.
And simply asking AI to “build me a website” isn’t necessarily the answer.
AI can generate words, layouts and code. But creating a website for the world we’re moving into requires understanding customers, marketing, search behaviour, credibility, SEO, AI visibility and how all of those pieces work together.
A website shouldn’t simply exist. It should be designed for how people will search, research and choose businesses next.
The question may no longer be:
“Do we have a good website?” It may soon become:
“When AI is asked who to choose, does it know enough about our business to recommend us?”
Businesses that start thinking about that question now won’t have to scramble to catch up later.
Cheryl Lee is the co-founder of Rebel Connect Pty Ltd, an Australian marketing business focused on helping brands grow. With a strong belief that when you work one-on-one with a team you know and trust, marketing stops feeling risky and starts delivering results,
Rebel Connect combines the power of radio and digital through Rebel FM, The Breeze, and Rebel Agency’s expertise in website design & development, brand overhauls, Google & Meta ads and logo design.
