How AI Is Changing Where Creatives Get Their Work Found

AI search is changing how clients find creative professionals, freelancers, designers, writers, podcast producers, photographers, and other independent creatives online. In this episode, I’m looking at how ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and other AI search tools are changing online discovery, what Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) actually means, and what you can do to improve your chances of appearing when a potential client asks AI to recommend someone with your skills. I also dig into why traditional SEO still matters, how AI decides who and what to cite, and why consistent positioning across the web is becoming increasingly important.

I went pretty deep into the research for this one because there are a lot of sweeping claims about AI replacing Google, and the actual picture is more complicated. Google still dominates search, while AI referral traffic is relatively small, but it’s growing very quickly. I also found some interesting evidence that people arriving through AI recommendations may be much more qualified than traditional search visitors. And one of the biggest surprises for me was LinkedIn: individual creators and their content are showing up in AI-generated answers far more often than I expected.

Then I get into what you can actually do about it. I explain why specific positioning tends to work better than vague marketing language, why you should describe what you do consistently across your website, LinkedIn, podcast bio, directories, and other profiles, and why third-party mentions are becoming so valuable. If you publish podcasts or videos, I also explain why transcripts matter for AI discovery. And I’ll give you a simple experiment you can run today: ask ChatGPT or Perplexity the exact question your ideal client would ask when looking for someone like you and see whether you exist in the answer at all.

→ Semrush research on AI referral traffic and AI citations

→ Pew Research on Google AI Overviews and search behavior

→ BrightLocal research on AI-assisted local business discovery

→ Seer Interactive research on AI-referred traffic and conversions

→ Ahrefs research on brand mentions and AI visibility

→ KDD 2024 research on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

00:00 Can AI find you?
02:56 Google still dominates, but AI search is growing
03:59 How quickly ChatGPT referral traffic is increasing
05:26 How AI Overviews are changing clicks
07:06 Creative professionals already getting clients through ChatGPT
08:45 Behance, Dribbble, LinkedIn & Upwork
09:47 Why LinkedIn matters for AI discovery
11:10 Why AI-referred visitors may convert better
12:52 What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
14:41 How AI builds a picture of who you are
15:45 Reddit, LinkedIn & AI citations
17:23 The importance of third-party mentions
18:16 Audit your AI visibility
18:37 Write a specific positioning sentence
19:28 Make your audio and video content readable by AI
19:54 Build third-party mentions
20:44 What all of this means for creative professionals

If this helped, subscribe to AI for Creative Professionals on Apple or Spotify for more practical AI tools for creatives — freelance and in-house designers, writers, marketers, photographers, video editors, podcasters and other creative professionals figuring out how to work with AI without losing what makes their work theirs.

I cover AI tools for creatives, AI workflows, prompt engineering, creative automation, AI-assisted content creation and the latest AI industry trends, with tools I tested in real creative workflows rather than just repeated from a launch announcement. I also talk about the other side of working with AI: creative careers, AI job anxiety, AI burnout, creative identity, maintaining your voice and taste, client expectations, boundaries, and what we might be better off keeping human.

I'm also on Substack at @aiforcreativeprofessionals if you want to connect directly, it's where I will post the more personal, behind-the-scenes stuff that doesn't fit into an episode.

New episodes every Wednesday. Full show notes and transcripts at aiforcreativepros.com