How AI Is Changing Search for Advisors

For years, if you wanted to attract new clients online, you played by the rules of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). That meant publishing helpful blog content, using specific keywords your audience might type into Google, and slowly climbing the ranks of search results.

But in 2024, the rules changed.

A new player entered the game: artificial intelligence. And it didn’t just tweak the rules. It rewrote them.

Instead of typing a phrase into Google and clicking through websites, people are now asking full, conversational questions to AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and even Google’s own Gemini. Rather than showing a list of websites, these tools deliver a single, synthesized answer instantly.

This shift has been so fast and so massive that it’s already gutting one of the most reliable forms of online visibility.

The result? Website click-through rates have plummeted by as much as 35 percent in 2024 alone. In addition, Gartner reports that 45 percent of high-net-worth individuals now rely on AI tools for initial financial research. McKinsey projects that by 2026, over 50 percent of all top-of-funnel inquiries will begin with AI-powered interfaces instead of traditional search engines.

These shifts are already transforming digital marketing for financial advisors.

If your financial advisor marketing strategy hasn’t adapted to that reality, you’re becoming invisible.

What Is Search Engine Optimization and Why It’s Changing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of making your website and content more visible on search engines like Google. For the last two decades, that meant:

• Doing keyword research.

• Writing blog posts optimized for those keywords

• Structuring your site so it’s easy for Google to index.

• Earning backlinks from reputable sources.

• Tracking your rankings in Google Search.

If you did this well, your site might appear in the top few organic results and people would click through to learn more.

But AI tools are disrupting how search works.

Until recently, Google search results showed a mix of sponsored ads and organic listings. Now, many queries return an AI-generated "answer box" at the top before any traditional links appear.

This means:

• Fewer clicks are going to websites

• More users are getting what they need from the AI’s summary.

• Your beautifully optimized content might never even be seen.

According to Similar web, the number of zero-click searches rose to over 60 percent in 2024. This is a dramatic shift that’s left many marketers scrambling.

In short, traditional SEO is no longer enough for marketing for financial advisors.

What Is Ask Engine Optimization and Why It’s the Future

Ask Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of creating content that answers questions directly and contextually so that AI-powered "ask engines" can feature your content in their responses.

Ask engines are tools that let users pose full, conversational questions and get synthesized answers. Think:

• ChatGPT

• Google’s Gemini

• Microsoft’s Copilot (powered by OpenAI)

• Perplexity AI

• Claude by Anthropic

When a user asks, “What’s the best way to avoid taxes in retirement?” the AI searches its model and the web, synthesizes the best answer, and delivers a paragraph—or even a full article—in seconds.

If your content isn’t written in a way that AIs can find, understand, and cite, it simply won’t show up.

AEO is about:

• Writing clearly structured, question-based content.

• Embedding structured data (like schema markup) so machines can parse your content.

• Establishing topical authority in a niche.

• Using consistent semantic relationships and entities.

When done correctly, AEO increases the chance your expertise will be featured, whether the user ever visits your website or not.

Why This Shift Matters for Financial Advisors

You became an advisor to help people, not to master AI marketing trends. But here’s the hard truth.

If your firm isn’t adapting to Ask Engine Optimization, you’re becoming invisible to the very people you want to serve.

Most of your prospects are already using these tools. High-net-worth clients are early adopters of tech. When they ask a financial question online, they’re not sorting through Google listings anymore. They’re asking ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity.

According to a 2025 study by Forbes magazine, 97% of high-net worth individuals say they “now use AI tools in their personal financial strategies,” up from 74% in 2024.

If your answer isn’t included in that response, someone else’s will be.

This isn’t just about traffic. It’s about credibility, authority, and visibility.

If your name isn’t associated with the answer, you’ve missed the chance to build trust.

How Structured Data Helps AI Understand Your Content

Structured data is invisible to the average reader but essential for machines.

It’s behind-the-scenes code (usually in JSON-LD format) that tells search engines and AI tools what your content means, not just what it says.

For example, we can mark up a blog post with structured data that tells AI:

• This article is written by a licensed financial advisor.

• It addresses a specific question about estate planning.

• It includes a how-to list and an FAQ section.

• It cites a trustworthy organization.

The result? AI models are far more likely to trust and use that content in a synthesized answer.

At Inbound Producers, we manually embed structured data in every blog article. Platforms like GoHighLevel don’t support it by default, so we write it by hand.

Every single time.

That’s the level of technical precision that gives our clients an edge.

Our Competitive Edge: Custom AI Content Systems That Do Both

Here’s where we take it even further.

Every client at Inbound Producers gets their own custom GPT—a Generative Pre-trained Transformer, trained to write in your voice. It becomes an AI content engine built on your brand voice, services, and client personas.

This does two powerful things:

• It lets us produce content that reads like you but is optimized for both SEO and AEO.

• It allows you to scale content creation without sacrificing quality, consistency, or compliance.

This is not content automation. This is AI-enhanced brand publishing—personalized, strategic, and technically precise.

With your custom GPT, we generate:

• Blog articles that answer real questions your audience is asking

• Emails that nurture leads in your tone

• Lead magnets built to convert and built to rank

And yes, all of it embedded with the structured data that makes it AI-friendly.

It’s a content system that gets found by humans, by Google, and by ask engines.

You Can’t Be Found If You’re Not in the System

You can have the best financial advice in the world. But if it’s not optimized for how people search today, you might as well not exist.

At Inbound Producers, we build future-proof content systems that make sure you show up where it counts. In search. In AI. In the answers your clients are already reading.

Let’s not just keep up with the trends. Let’s lead them.

Ready to See Where You Stand?

Take our Inbound Marketing Health Assessment to see how your current SEO, AEO, and content systems measure up.

The future isn’t waiting. And neither should your marketing.