Will people still visit your website if they ask about everything related to AI? For the first time in history, Cloudflare is now receiving more internet traffic from bots than from humans.
And why would you even yourself building a website where AI builds the most sophisticated websites for you in a few minutes?
This would lead to your website losing value. That it doesn’t matter how your website looks anymore, because no one will ever come to it anyway.
But maybe the opposite is true...
In this blog, I explain why I believe the value of your website actually increases, provided that you use it in the right way.
AI as your primary website visitor
I absolutely do not see myself as an AI expert and am not at the forefront of developments, but AI has changed my daily life 100%. Instead of Googling, I now almost ask anything I want to know to Gemini. I actually ask questions, not just random keywords, but full sentences. I also use AI in my work all day long. I use Gemini to brainstorm, research things for me, and to set up Gems that help me get to the right output faster. Where I once hated writing with AI, I now know how to instruct my Gems so that they can actually make a valuable contribution to creating texts.
It should be clear that I am not alone here. We all know that we are inundated with AI-generated content. And that is exactly why I can say with certainty that I am not the only one whose behavior has changed.
This confirms the article ‘In San Francisco, you let a robot drive you while an agent orders your groceries’ In the FD of Saturday, October 31st (see below). According to Cloudflare, we are even heading towards a time when almost all internet traffic comes from bots.
Suppose everyone indeed uses AI as the first information point; then the need to visit a website for information is suddenly much smaller. If not, it could be as small as zero. This could imply that the value of a website declines.
But is that really the case?
Because AI of course gets its information from somewhere…
Insight 1: Your website as a source
Although for us humans the need to visit a website is becoming increasingly smaller, for AI it is even more so. Because when AI searches for information about your brand, your website forms the basis. Based on your website, AI determines who you are, what you offer, and who the people behind your brand are. In addition, AI looks for unique viewpoints on your website, usually in the form of long-form content (think blogs, whitepapers, etc.).
So, although your website is visited less by people, for AI your website is the primary source of information about your brand. It’s therefore important to use this wisely.
More about that later.
Because in addition to the role of your website changing with the changing search behavior of people, the role of your website is also changing due to the changes in social media.
AI and your website are only part of the story
In recent years, brands have massively invested in building their brand through social media. Entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly adept at using their personal brand to promote their brands. Very smart, because social media is the perfect place to be heard on a regular basis.
It should be clear that it works. More and more people are buying directly through social media. This could lead you to conclude that the role of the website is slowly fading away.
But I believe that a shift is also taking place here that means the opposite.
From ‘social’ media to ‘interest’ media
In recent years, a huge number of brands have grown enormously through social media. These brands sometimes don’t even have a website, or use the website as a digital business card.
But...
The role of social media is changing.
There is a shift from ‘social’ media to ‘interest’ media. In other words, you no longer follow automatic people that you want to follow, but instead receive content that the platform thinks you will find interesting.
So where your interest lies (everything to keep you on the platform for as long as possible).
And this is really a very big thing.
Perhaps you have also noticed that you no longer automatically receive updates from friends, family, or people in your network whom you would like to follow. You even miss things because the algorithm thinks your interest lies elsewhere.
You are not following any people more but interests.
Well, I know that you can of course help the algorithm by actively searching for those people and their posts. But that’s not the point I want to make here.
My point is that you are unknowingly being served more and more content that you did not choose yourself.
With this change, it’s no longer a given that your fans will see your content. And if you no longer ‘follow them as if it were a matter of course,’ what does that do to your brand?
There is a lot I can tell you.
Because it’s not you who determines your success; the platform does. A small change in the algorithm can have a huge impact on your reach. If you’ve made your success dependent on your reach, you have a problem.
And you don't want that.
As a brand, you don’t want to depend on a social media platform.
Back to your website. What does this shift mean for your website?
I believe that your website is the foundation for showing what your brand stands for. Your website should reflect who you are. Here, you are in charge. Here, you want to be in direct contact with your target audience. Because here, you are not dependent on a platform that sets the rules of the game. You have the final say on how you interact with your fans and how they can follow you.
And that’s why I believe that this shift makes your website more important than ever before.
Insight 2: Don't make your brand dependent on algorithms
In my opinion, social media has only one goal: keeping as many people on the platform for as long as possible in order to make as much money as possible. With this in mind, social media wants to make you, as a brand, dependent on the platform and force you to play by their rules. I believe that you cannot build a brand strategy based on this.
It’s smarter to build your brand in a different place. Primarily in the real world, where AI and social media can’t reach you, and online in a place where you have control. Where you’re not dependent on a platform. Where you decide what you show, what you talk about, and how you connect with your target audience. A website is a very logical place for that.
So your website is not only an important source of AI insights (insight 1), but also the place where you can build your brand in your own way over the long term, without depending on algorithms.
Just a small side note: this of course does not mean that social media does not play an important role in building your brand. Social media, or interest media, is still important for reaching your target audience. My point here is simply that you do not want to become dependent on social media.
The renewed role of your website
Instead of your website becoming less important for your brand, it becomes more important. On the one hand, because your website is used as the primary source by AI, and on the other hand because this is the only online place where you truly have control over the process.
But what does this mean in concrete terms?
I see several ways in which you can cleverly respond to these developments:
- From a technical perspective, your website is AI-first
- Ensure a clear brand story
- use long-form content to showcase your expertise
- think about new ways to stay in touch with your target audience
1. Develop your website AI-first
If you want AI to use your website as a source for its AI responses, AI needs to be able to ‘read’ your website easily. This has the advantage that people who consult AI for advice may see your responses and be directed to your website. Therefore, it is important to ensure that you build your website so that AI understands what your content is about.
It is important to understand that when I say AI-first, I mean that you should focus on your website Technically developed in such a way that LLMs and AI bots can read your website properly. I mean, I don’t mean, Not at all, That you should have your website built by AI.
Why not?
Because websites built by AI quickly become the average of the average. And that’s exactly not what you need if you want to become a reliable source for different AI models.
How?
Implement Schema Data so that the information on your website is delivered directly in the correct format to Google and various AI models. Ensure a technically ‘light’ website (clean code). Use frequently asked questions; these can be quoted directly by Google and LLMs. Ensure clear text structures (use H1, H2 and H3 as intended).
2. Create a clear brand story
The foundation of any good website is a clear brand story. If you can’t even clearly tell on your website what your brand stands for, how will your target audience remember it? This may sound very logical, in any case I hope so, but it’s not that simple.
Truly knowing what you stand for and being able to summarize this in a concise message is an art. An art that AI cannot help you with. Because only you know what you want to achieve in the world and with what unique value you do this.
In addition to being important to tell a clear story, it is also important to be very consistent in how you tell it. The more often you repeat your brand message, the easier it is for AI to target you with exactly that message.
3. Use long-form content to showcase your expertise
Long-form content is the ultimate way to show that you are an expert in your field. Write blogs. Record (video)podcasts. Create whitepapers. Any form is fine, as long as you tell an authentic story that shows that you have lived through the subject matter.
That you add information that is unique and that you give your brand a face.
Show the people behind your brand, use their expertise, and show everyone that there are real people with a real vision behind your brand. Because that way you stand out in a world that is flooded with AI.
Learn more about the importance of long-form content. Then read my blog post. ‘Attention B2B marketers: you can no longer do without long-form content’.
4. Think of new ways to stay in touch with your target audience
It is an illusion to think that your target audience will immediately come to your website. Therefore, you will have to continue finding ways to reach them. This can of course still be done through social media. As long as you don’t depend on these channels, newsletters are still a great way to keep your target audience informed about developments, but make sure you remain relevant.
I can even imagine that we will tailor information even more in the future than we do now. Last week I read a Substack blog post by someone who predicted that we might soon develop agents that interact with other agents. An agent on your website, giving your target audience exactly the right information. Completely tailored so that you never have to flood your target audience with messages that are not relevant.
So that you even provide information that is only relevant to that one person, because your agent is so trained that he knows exactly what information to provide. So that the agents can together determine when it is time for you people to have contact with each other.
Whatever the role of the website is, knowing who you are remains the core question of every brand.
Because whether or not someone visits your website in five years is not a relevant question. What is relevant is that it is more important than ever before to know what your brand stands for.
Only when you truly understand who you are and what unique value you bring to this bizarre world can you build a brand that changes the world a little bit.
Only then can an AI model tell your target audience what you stand for and why they should turn to you rather than the competition.
And only you know what that brand story is.
Knowing this. Feeling what is right. And seeing what the world needs.
That AI will never replace.
So maybe I'll be sitting right next to you, and we won't have any (visible) website at all later on. We'll still have to figure out for ourselves which story we should tell. Because AI won't be able to do that.
