We’re at a turning level in website positioning.
For many years, the playbook was easy: create nice content material, optimize for search, and watch the visitors roll in. Plenty of profitable companies have been constructed on that playbook. Semrush is a residing instance of this.
However generative AI has modified website positioning endlessly. This is what we’re noticing throughout the business:
- Google is sending much less visitors to web sites as extra queries are answered straight in AI Overviews
- You would possibly assume AI chatbots like ChatGPT & Claude would make up that misplaced visitors, however they largely cite huge manufacturers, making it more durable for smaller websites to achieve visibility
- With fewer clicks, website positioning doesn’t ship the identical predictable ROI it as soon as did
So, how do you construct a profitable on-line enterprise when visitors sources are drying up?
Earlier than we share our recommendation, let’s revisit the pre-AI world of website positioning for a bit. And discover why we should always do advertising and marketing with extra intention.
website positioning Was a Surefire Advertising and marketing Exercise
For almost 20 years, you possibly can construct a thriving on-line enterprise by making Google’s algorithm comfortable. Should you did technical optimizations, focused the proper key phrases, and constructed backlinks, visitors would move to your website.
Basic advertising and marketing expertise like model constructing, promotion, and creativity weren’t vital for fulfillment in follow.
However now that AI is altering issues for website positioning, success requires precisely these expertise:
- Model constructing: Your model must be in style sufficient that it naturally will get talked about throughout the net when conversations about your business are taking place
- Promotion: It is advisable to actively distribute and amplify your content material by way of e mail, social media, and influencer partnerships (fairly than simply counting on Google visitors)
- Creativity: It is advisable to create content material and campaigns that stand out and get folks speaking—the sort of work that is genuinely fascinating or worthwhile. Not simply optimized.
- Willingness to attempt new concepts: It is advisable to be open to testing new methods (even when they’re not but confirmed). For instance, we just lately examined question fan-out optimization to see if it helps enhance our AI visibility.
Should you embrace these foundational advertising and marketing expertise, what you are promoting can thrive within the post-AI period of website positioning.
LLMs Are the New Advertising and marketing Alternative
AI platforms symbolize the following frontier for content material discovery and visitors technology—ChatGPT alone has 800 million weekly energetic customers. However it’s good to have a powerful model to succeed.
The fact is that AI platforms systematically favor established manufacturers and well-known sources, making it troublesome for smaller websites to be cited in AI solutions.
Listed below are probably the most cited domains in Google’s AI Overviews, in response to our AI visitors analysis from July 2025.
You’ll see that these are principally huge manufacturers. And so they are likely to dominate in different LLMs as properly. For smaller companies, this creates a chicken-and-egg drawback. You want authority to get cited in AI solutions. However it’s good to be extra seen and acknowledged typically to persuade AI you’re an authority.
Meaning constructing a model has turn into much more essential. It not solely helps improve your AI visibility, but additionally helps generate extra visitors to your web site general.
When you’ve got a powerful model, folks seek for you by title. They bookmark your website. They share your content material with out being requested. They open your emails. This creates a sustainable stream of visitors.
If you’d like a baseline concept of how seen your model is in AI platforms, use the AI website positioning Toolkit from Semrush. It lets you monitor your model mentions and citations in AI platforms.
The right way to Construct a Model & Develop Your Enterprise
To construct a profitable model, it’s good to present up the place your viewers already spends their time and add worth to their lives. Listed below are seven techniques that you should use to begin model constructing:
1. Create Sticky Content material
Publishing content material that retains guests engaged and coming again (i.e., sticky content material) builds a powerful model.
Your content material ought to:
- Make a long-lasting impression, so readers bear in mind your organization
- Encourage folks to return again to your website
- Be so memorable that it makes readers really feel linked to the folks behind your model
- Get shared organically as a result of folks need others to expertise it
Take Development.Design’s content material for instance. They create interactive tales that educate design and progress rules by way of partaking visible narratives.
Their content material combines lovely illustrations, storytelling, and sensible classes in a format you will not discover wherever else. This is considered one of their interactive case research you’ll be able to take a look at.
Development.Design will get loads of reward for his or her distinctive method. This is what Peep Laja, founding father of CXL, says:
“Many websites are in a sea of sameness. However Development.Design’s content material is simply so totally different. Severe effort goes in there. It’s clearly arduous to supply. Most individuals aren’t able to put in that sort of work and sources.”
This method has helped Development.Design set up their model presence within the design training area.
2. Launch PR Campaigns
Frequently launching PR campaigns is without doubt one of the strongest methods to construct a model as a result of PR will get your model in entrance of a giant viewers.
An excellent PR marketing campaign does three issues:
- Positions your model as credible and price being attentive to
- Creates word-of-mouth momentum
- Tells your model’s story in a approach that resonates together with your viewers
Some time in the past, Duolingo introduced on social media that their mascot Duo had died. Whereas clearly a stunt, the announcement went viral on TikTok and generated thousands and thousands of views throughout social platforms.
Following the viral social media buzz, media shops like CBS Information, NPR, and USA Immediately additionally began masking the information.
This marketing campaign strengthened Duolingo’s playful model character and saved them prime of thoughts for language learners. It labored as a result of it was sudden but completely aligned with their model voice.
However you do not want elaborate stunts to make PR work. It’s also possible to get press protection by way of model collaborations.
Not too long ago, Perplexity partnered with Airtel to supply a free one-year subscription to Airtel customers in India. This single transfer generated protection throughout media publications like The Financial Instances.
Plenty of folks would’ve probably realized about Perplexity for the primary time after listening to this information.
3. Spend money on Digital Advertisements
Digital promoting entails paying to run adverts on platforms like Google, Meta, and LinkedIn. And these adverts are nice for reaching extra folks.
This is what makes digital promoting so efficient:
- On the spot publicity: Digital adverts seem prominently throughout promoting platforms
- Laser-focused concentrating on: Digital permits exact viewers concentrating on primarily based on demographics, pursuits, and behaviors
- Actual-time insights: You possibly can see precisely how your campaigns are doing and tweak them to spice up efficiency
Many profitable corporations discover their best-performing content material and market it by way of paid adverts.
For instance, Grammarly just lately promoted its office productiveness information by way of LinkedIn adverts. This positions them as specialists within the enterprise productiveness instruments area, whereas additionally placing their model in entrance of a extremely related viewers.
Notion does one thing related. When creators submit movies about how they arrange their work in Notion, the corporate amplifies these movies by way of paid promotion.
If you wish to run profitable search campaigns, take a look at our Promoting Toolkit. It helps you discover the perfect key phrases to focus on, analysis rivals’ advert methods, and monitor your marketing campaign efficiency throughout a number of platforms.
4. Publish on Social Media
Social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and TikTok offer you direct entry to your followers, so you’ll be able to even have conversations with potential clients.
This is what works primarily based on our expertise:
- Assist your colleagues’ posts: Like, touch upon, and reshare posts out of your teammates in regards to the firm and business. It’s one of many best methods to extend attain.
- Publish usually: It’s simpler to develop an viewers with common posting. We recommend making a content material calendar and aiming for at the very least a number of posts per week.
- Have interaction in conversations: Don’t simply submit; work together. Leaving considerate feedback on related discussions attracts folks again to your profile and, by extension, your model.
- Use visible content material: Textual content posts can work, however experiment with picture and video posts. Create branded visuals, quick explainer clips, and even memes (when related) to seize consideration.
- Use hashtags strategically: Including two to a few extremely related hashtags may also help extra folks uncover your posts, significantly on LinkedIn and Instagram.
- Collaborate with business voices: Work with individuals who have already got the viewers you need to attain. This could possibly be business specialists, in style influencers, and even clients who love your product.
At Semrush, our groups use social media to advertise weblog content material, spotlight product updates, announce launches, and supply broader firm updates.
We additionally have interaction in feedback with our viewers to spark discussions, reply questions, and construct stronger relationships.
Once in a while, we’ll additionally run influencer campaigns, which assist us attain new audiences. For instance, here is a latest collaboration with an business knowledgeable selling our Enterprise AIO platform:
If you wish to handle your social media presence extra successfully, take a look at our Social Toolkit. It permits you to schedule posts throughout platforms, monitor engagement metrics, and discover the proper influencers to collaborate with.
5. Create Merchandise
Distributing merchandise continues to be probably the most efficient methods for getting your model observed. And it really works particularly properly for rising companies as a result of it might probably assist:
- Increase model visibility: When your emblem is on an merchandise folks really use—like hoodies, water bottles, or tote luggage—it turns them into model ambassadors in every single place they go
- Construct constructive associations: Freely giving high quality merchandise seems like a present, and clients typically share that have with mates or on social media. That extends your model’s attain far past the unique recipient.
- Carry your digital model into the bodily world: For SaaS corporations and online-first companies, merch makes the model really feel extra actual
The aim is to create one thing that’s helpful, trendy, or enjoyable sufficient that folks need to hold it.
For instance, in case you have software program engineers in your group, you’ve got in all probability seen GitHub’s Copilot stickers on their laptops and water bottles. Builders love these.
GitHub additionally creates hoodies and t-shirts that builders really put on with delight. It helps them sign that they belong to the coding group.
Should you’re able to create branded merchandise, corporations like Printful and CustomInk make it simple to design and distribute high quality merchandise with out managing stock your self.
Each platforms deal with manufacturing and transport, letting you give attention to constructing your model as an alternative of managing logistics.
6. Sponsor Occasions (or Set up Your Personal)
Occasion sponsorship is without doubt one of the best methods to spice up model visibility and develop what you are promoting as a result of you’ll be able to:
- Borrow authority from the occasion: While you sponsor a well-established convention or commerce present, your model advantages from the credibility of that occasion. Attendees naturally affiliate your organization with the occasion’s repute.
- Attain a extremely focused viewers: Conferences and area of interest gatherings deliver collectively people who find themselves already invested in your business, making it a lot simpler to attach with high-intent prospects
For instance, Sentry usually sponsors main developer conferences like GitHub Universe and React Universe Conf.
By way of sponsorship preparations, corporations sometimes safe model placement on occasion supplies like signage, promotional gadgets, digital shows, or stage backdrops. Prime sponsors may additionally obtain exhibition areas in high-traffic areas or talking alternatives.
However you do not at all times must depend on different folks’s occasions. Working your individual occasions could be simply as highly effective.
For example, we host an annual convention referred to as Highlight, the place digital advertising and marketing professionals share insights about search, content material advertising and marketing, and extra. This in-person occasion permits us to deeply have interaction with our viewers and reinforce our place as a pacesetter within the digital advertising and marketing area.
7. Develop and Share Your Model Story
Your model story—the “why” behind what you do—helps folks join with what you are promoting on a human stage. However having a compelling story is not sufficient. It is advisable to actively share it throughout a number of touchpoints to construct model recognition.
This is how you are able to do this:
- In your web site: Create an “About Us” web page that explains your mission, values, the issue you’re fixing, and what makes your method totally different—written in a approach that feels genuine fairly than company
- By way of founder visibility: Get founders to share their journeys on LinkedIn, podcasts, or at business occasions
- In content material advertising and marketing: Weave components of your story into blogs, newsletters, movies, and case research so it is strengthened over time
- Inside your product expertise: Mirror your model character in onboarding flows, UX copy, micro-interactions, and have bulletins
- Throughout buyer interactions: Practice your group to speak your model values in help conversations and gross sales calls
For instance, Notion’s group persistently shares their story of constructing a device that adapts to how folks really assume and work—not forcing them into inflexible buildings.
This narrative seems in every single place: of their advertising and marketing copy, product demos, founder interviews, and group discussions. It reinforces why Notion feels totally different from conventional undertaking administration instruments.
The lesson is not simply to have a superb story—it is to make that story a constant a part of the way you talk your model.
Get Began with Model Constructing
Immediately, constructing a model is not optionally available—it’s the inspiration for driving sustainable progress within the AI period.
This checklist of brand-building methods is on no account exhaustive. There are dozens of different techniques we didn’t cowl right here, however we needed to share some concepts you may get began with right now.
So, decide a number of techniques that greatest align together with your sources and implement them instantly. Later, scale your efforts and layer in different concepts as you achieve momentum.
You’ll discover that as your model turns into stronger, visitors follows. That’s the true energy of getting a model.
