{"id":5305,"date":"2025-12-15T03:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/global-insights\/\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:16:14","slug":"the-shift-from-linking-to-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icomagencies.com\/global-insights\/the-shift-from-linking-to-talking\/","title":{"rendered":"GEO: The shift from linking to talking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Miguel Pereira<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Miguel Pereira<\/a> is co-founder and Executive President of Darwin & Verne<\/a>, a Spanish brand consultancy and creative agency with an ecosystem of solutions designed to connect brands with audiences, including a business unit specializing in AI solutions applied to marketing. He also serves on the ICOM Board, where he leads the Innovation practice, helping independent agencies harness new technologies to drive growth and creativity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Luc\u00eda, 31, is organizing a weekend getaway to Portugal with friends. She used to type into Google: \u201ccheap Porto weekend ideas\u201d and get lost in blogs, links, and three-year-old comparisons. Today she opens ChatGPT in voice mode and says: \u201cI want a weekend in Porto with winery visits, viewpoints that aren\u2019t overcrowded, a good coffee spot, and a budget of \u20ac150 per person, and give me alternative plans in case it rains.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Within seconds, she receives a living itinerary, with routes, schedules, and a checklist. Then she follows up: \u201cAny historic bookstore? A place to watch the sunset?\u201d<\/em> and the conversation sharpens the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s not that Google no longer works; it\u2019s that, for inspiration, the first stop has shifted from the link to the dialogue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The data confirms what users already know<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Beyond discrepancies across different data sources, one thing is clear: real user habits are changing. McKinsey speaks of a \u201cnew gateway to the internet\u201d and notes that \u201ca substantial share of consumers already use AI search,\u201d and that this behavior is beginning to influence how people discover and decide. As a result, many websites \u2014particularly publishers\u2014 are experiencing significant drops in traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In parallel, usage data from ChatGPT and other assistants shows that conversational queries are rising, and a relevant percentage of users now start their search there. Adobe captured this in its 2025 survey among ChatGPT users; some questioned sampling biases and population reach, but the trend is unmistakable. The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, citing Datos, also points to double-digit year-over-year growth in desktop traffic to AI assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity\u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This isn\u2019t a sorpasso \u2014 it\u2019s a gradual transfer. A trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But here comes the nuance that matters for the marketing industry. As Enrique P\u00e9rez <\/a>of Digital Angels<\/a> clarifies: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AI wins at the top of the funnel; Google still rules at the bottom.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, for generic, inspirational, or general-information queries, the conversational format reduces friction and solves questions in a single dialogue, without leaving the tool\u2019s environment. Behavioral studies (like Pew Research\u2019s 2025 analysis) already suggested that when generative synthesis is part of the experience, users click less on external sites: if the answer satisfies, they stay where they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conversely, the closer we get to purchase, the less the habit changes: users ask for direct links, compare prices and logistics. In that terrain, traffic referred by LLMs remains marginal and converts worse than organic or affiliate traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Simple translation: conversation captures inspiration; links govern the transaction.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Voice makes the conversation feel human<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another reason for the rise of conversational formats is voice. Classic voice search never exploded as predicted, but conversational usage skyrockets when voice is paired with LLMs. In this context, ChatGPT\u2019s voice experience (asking, re-asking, requesting nuance) normalizes the habit of \u201casking the machine\u201d in natural language because it resembles talking to a friend. How many of you have \u201ctalked\u201d with ChatGPT about any random doubt recently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To understand why this experience is so convincing, it\u2019s worth looking at how LLMs work underneath. Beyond \u201cwriting,\u201d many assistants combine generation with real-time semantic search to pull in relevant context and citable sources. Tools like\u00a0exa.ai<\/a>\u00a0act as a radar: they scan the web with vector-based queries, prioritize relevant and recent pages, and return data that the assistant reads, summarizes, and links. This bridge between generation and retrieval reduces the \u201cblack box\u201d effect and turns the chat into an experience anchored in reliable sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But what does this mean for brands?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From ranking to being cited<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s simple, and critical: the old game of ranking with SEO is no longer enough; you need to be\u00a0citable, as is often said in the world of\u00a0GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The question stops being \u201cwhat position do I appear in?\u201d and becomes \u201cwho cites me, and with what authority?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In GEO, what matters is your presence inside the answer: that the model incorporates you, cites you, recommends you \u2014and does so based on high-quality sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The practical approach for brands comes down to three ideas:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n