SEO built the modern web. It still matters. Its future doesn’t look the same.

How discovery worked yesterday

Picture a traveler searching “things to do in Pittsburgh.” They scan a listicle or the VisitPittsburgh listing, click through to the Warhol Museum site, check hours and tickets, maybe peek at The Factory hands-on studio, or plan a late visit with Good Fridays. That multi-click path powered by rankings and blue links has been the playbook for decades.

The shift

In 2024, zero-click behavior was the majority of Google searches, with only ~36 percent of clicks going to the open web. See Sparktoro’s 2024 study and Search Engine Land’s summary. Google’s AI Overviews further compress clicks, and publishers have reported measurable traffic declines (Search Engine Journal, Digiday).

Answer engines rise, but they flatten intent

ChatGPT, Perplexity, and similar tools reward content that can be quoted, verified, and synthesized into a single response. The practice of shaping your information for these systems is often called Answer Engine Optimization or AEO (SEO.com definition; Amsive guide; Search Engine Land overview). Helpful, yes. But single answers tend to average away nuance. 

Perception of quality goes up. Fit to intent often goes down.

Three Warhol visitors. Three jobs to be done.

Same museum. Different needs. Traditional SEO sends them down the same funnel. Answer engines often blend them into one “best” answer.

• The Parent on a budget with two kids seeks hands-on making and value hours. The Warhol’s The Factory offers all-ages studio activities, and Good Fridays runs until 10 p.m. with half-price admission after 5. Strollers are permitted on all levels per family guidance.
• The Scholar doing serious research needs archive access workflow and lead times. The Archives Study Center requires requests at least six months in advance and uses this research request form.
• The Night-out visitor cares about what’s open tonight, nearby dining, and realistic visit length. Late hours are confirmed on the admissions page; the museum is on the North Shore near the Andy Warhol Bridge (VisitPittsburgh listing).

From answers to guidance

Now imagine a VisitPittsburgh agent as the starting point. It is local, specialized, and still part of the Warhol discovery path, but it behaves like a concierge.

• For the Parent, it pairs The Factory with Good Fridays, calculates dwell time, sequences a nearby dinner, and issues timed tickets that match the family’s schedule.
• For the Scholar, it explains the six-month window, opens the request form, and blocks research days alongside lodging and campus resources.
• For the Night-out visitor, it confirms late hours, buys tickets, routes walking over the bridge for skyline views, and aligns dinner with entry times.

Why agents win for visitors

• Precision over averages because guidance adapts to constraints, not the median use case.
• Continuous flow from discovery to purchase to logistics in one thread. No tab-hopping.
• Adaptive context as needs change mid-conversation, including accessibility and family details.

Why agents win for institutions

• Higher-quality traffic that shows up for the right program at the right time.
• Richer first-party intent signals to improve programming and operations.
• Better unit economics with more direct ticketing and membership paths, less exposure to brittle rankings.

Answer engines are useful. They aren’t enough.

Use answer engines for orientation. Don’t expect them to steward every persona’s last mile. Zero-click is common (Sparktoro; Search Engine Land), and AI Overviews compress referral opportunities (SEJ; Digiday). If organic discovery is your only strategy, your surface area is shrinking.

Agent-to-agent referrals finish the journey

Agents don’t stop at a single answer. They hand off with context.

• The Parent receives a warm referral to a children’s activities agent for tomorrow morning aligned to budget and walking distance.
• The Scholar is referred to a university archives agent and a lodging agent that guarantees quiet work time.
• The Night-out visitor hands off to a North Shore dining agent that already knows ticket time and party size.

What to do next

• Treat AEO as table stakes, not a strategy. Publish machine-readable hours, pricing, accessibility and program details with solid citations and schema (AEO overview).
• Stand up an agent that knows your operations end-to-end. It should handle ticketing, capacity, timing, and program matching.
• Join or build a local agent network. A VisitPittsburgh-style entry agent that routes to your specialist agent will outperform a dozen listicles (see listing).
• Measure completed journeys and conversion quality, not just sessions and rank positions.

SEO was the on-ramp. AEO is the air traffic control. Agents are the chauffeurs that get people where they actually meant to go.