How Generative AI is Changing the Way Clients Find You
Written by: Husam Jandal, Digital Marketing Consultant and Business Strategist, Husam Jandal International
You’ve probably heard that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is stealing your traffic and, by extension, your factoring prospects. In fact, 94 percent of business buyers across all markets have used it in their buying journeys, according to Forrester. But the reality is, for factoring companies, this oversimplifies what’s actually happening in the background.
The Artificial Intelligence “Problem” Is Twofold
First, it’s important to create some distinction between GenAI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot and the AI overviews you see in search engines like Google and Bing.
AI overviews appear when a user runs an online search. In these cases, the user’s behavior doesn’t change at first. However, because the AI overview appears before organic search results and often answers the user’s question directly, the user has no reason to click through to your website for the answer. As a result, first-position clicks reduce by 58 percent when an AI overview is present, per Ahrefs.
While search engines have historically shied away from using AI overviews in Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) categories like finance, there’s evidence to suggest 91 percent of educational questions and 67 percent of rate and planning queries now have them, as BrightEdge reports. In other words, the vast majority of search engine traffic your site was receiving from “what is” and “how much”–type queries has likely vanished. There’s still value in building a marketing funnel and leveraging search engine optimization (SEO), although the benefits of doing so have shifted.
GenAI platforms, by contrast, represent a major shift in user behavior, as B2B buyers move to platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini for portions of their research. However, the prevalence of this shift varies by industry, and just 25 percent typically use it to research financial or legal services, per Semrush. Simply put, anytime we speak in generalities about the prevalence of GenAI use, we must internally recognize that the finance industry is impacted considerably less than most.
GenAI Pulls Information from a Variety of Sources
GenAI platforms are similar to search engines in that they’re pulling information from a variety of sources. However, search visibility historically began with your website. Platforms like Google would begin there, then back up what they found and confirm your authority through third-party sources. GenAI isn’t showing the same patterns. It may rely heavily on outdated training data, particularly for general information, and it tends to lean more on third-party signals than website signals. For instance, when asked to prepare a shortlist, it often focuses heavily on shortlists that already exist online or lists those that have a bigger footprint on online review sites, though it will routinely visit the websites mentioned to confirm its findings.
To clear up a common misconception, however, it does not use your queries and conversations to inform chats with other users. The key, then, is to maintain your online presence through traditional SEO techniques, focusing both on what happens on your website and off.
GenAI Ifs Most Commonly Used in the Early Research Phase
The biggest shift is happening in the early research phase, as 72 percent of GenAI users use it to understand the space, per Semrush. This is the early stage, where they’re defining their problem, learning about available solution categories, establishing requirements, and identifying potential solutions or vendors. These are all things that help shape their shortlist.
With that being said, 89 percent of buyers say they have spotted missing vendors in AI outputs, Semrush reports. More than a quarter say it happens frequently. This is a positive sign for those who don’t have a strong GenAI footprint yet, as it means prospects are aware that their results are incomplete.
Prospects Don’t Always Trust GenAI Recommendations
Not surprisingly, fewer than one-third of B2B buyers fully trust GenAI when it recommends a company, Semrush reports. One-third also say recommendations are too generic. Other high-ranking issues include a lack of depth or accuracy, inaccurate pricing or contract structures, and credibility concerns.
As a result, 71 percent visit your website after you’ve been recommended, while 63 percent run a Google search. Many will also compare your company with others, ask AI follow-up questions, or check out your reviews to see if what AI has said aligns.
Buyers Continue to Use a Multitude of Research Sources
The “trust but verify” mentality isn’t the only reason people take their research elsewhere. Search remains the dominant tool, with 75 percent of B2B buyers saying they typically tap into it overall, according to Semrush research. AI comes in at 66 percent, although this share will likely continue to grow. Additionally, 38 percent will still visit your website. Other common sources of information include colleague recommendations, review platforms, and social channels or communities.
GenAI Changes the Meaning of Marketing Performance
Traditional performance models treat website engagement as evidence of visibility and interest. GenAI moves part of marketing’s influence into AI-generated responses, where exposure and engagement occur separately. A prospect may encounter a factoring company in an AI response, absorb the information, and continue researching through search, reviews, referrals, or other sources. The resulting website traffic captures one part of that journey, while the recommendation may have shaped which companies received further consideration.
Because of this, a traffic decline can now mean several things. AI overviews may reduce visits by satisfying informational needs within search, while standalone GenAI may redirect the beginning of research to another platform. Lower traffic can reflect changing behavior, reduced visibility, weaker demand, or a combination of all three. Each carries a different business consequence. Consequently, marketing performance must be interpreted across market visibility, qualified inquiries, pipeline, and funded business, with traffic treated as one signal within that larger picture.
A Diversified Strategy Will Help Ensure Prospective Clients Continue to Find You
Even though GenAI is changing how potential clients find you, the signals that can make or break your digital marketing remain largely the same. Following a few best practices will help you make the most of them.
● Distinguish Traffic Loss from Prospect Loss: AI overviews may reduce visits to educational content without reducing the number of qualified prospects entering your pipeline. Assess changes in top-of-funnel traffic separately from high-intent visibility, inquiries, and funded business.
● Improve Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Ensure your differentiating points are well documented. AI is more likely to cite or recommend your factoring company when it understands what makes it unique.
● Expand Competitive Visibility Reviews: Search rankings no longer show the full discovery landscape. Include GenAI recommendations when you perform competitive reviews to determine whether your company appears on relevant shortlists, how it’s described, which competitors show up, and which sources influence the results.
● Strengthen Off-Site Visibility: GenAI’s reliance on third-party sources gives industry coverage, directories, independent lists, and review platforms greater influence over discovery. Evaluate these areas alongside owned content.
● Protect the Verification Path: An AI recommendation is often the beginning of additional research. Search results, website content, and reviews should clearly and consistently support the information prospects encounter through GenAI.
Maintaining a diverse strategy will not only help you attract more prospects today, but will help future-proof your marketing strategies and pipeline as technology and buyer behavior continue to shift.
About the Author
Husam Jandal is an internationally recognized marketing and business strategist who has been helping businesses achieve transformative growth for more than two decades. His work with factoring companies includes one firm that grew client acquisition sixfold, doubled its volume to over $1 billion, and was acquired for more than $100 million. As a trusted consultant, author, educator, and speaker, Husam draws on his deep knowledge of the challenges businesses face and his unique ability to fuse proven strategies with tailored insights, empowering companies to reach new heights and attain lasting success.
The views expressed in the Commercial Factor website are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, the International Factoring Association.