The Discovery Shift: A Primer for Builders, Founders & Friends

We’re writing this for the good ones.

The people building great companies with care, soul, and originality — but who feel like they’re not being seen.

Who know they’re doing something special, but can’t seem to break through.

This is for you.

Because discovery — the way people find and trust companies — has changed.

And hardly anyone’s talking about it.

The Big Shift: From Search to Signal

For 20 years, if you wanted to be discovered, you optimised for search.

You published good content.

You climbed the rankings.

You fought for clicks.

But that system is crumbling.

Today, we’re moving into the AI discovery era — and it plays by totally different rules.

AI systems like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity aren’t search engines anymore.

They’re answer engines.

When someone asks a question, they don’t show 10 links.

They try to answer — fully, instantly, and without sending you away.

So if you’re not the answer, you’re invisible.

Here’s What’s Actually Going On

1. Discovery now happens inside the model.

   • The system has already decided what’s most relevant before the user ever sees a screen.

2. Coherence is the new ranking.

   • Models look for consistent, structured signals: schema, reviews, language patterns, clarity of purpose.

   • If your company gives off scattered or shallow signals, it gets skipped — no matter how good it is.

3. You don’t get cited because you exist.

   • You get cited because the model has learned who you are, what you do, and why you matter.

Why Most Great Companies Are Being Missed

Most brilliant businesses are built to serve people — not machines.

That’s a good thing.

But it means their digital footprint is:

• Unstructured

• Fragmented

• Invisible to the new layer of AI discovery

The result? Beautiful, impactful companies are getting passed over — while louder, simpler, or more optimised ones take their place in the answers people see.

So What Can You Do?

If you’re building something real — and you want to be discoverable in this new system — here’s what actually helps:

1. 

Teach the model who you are

• Write a clear, canonical piece that explains what you do and why it matters

• Add schema markup (your dev or AI can help)

• Repeat your key ideas and metaphors — models learn from patterns

2. 

Be structurally findable

• Use structured data (Organization, Product, Place, FAQ) to describe what you do

• Link key pieces together (blog ↔ homepage ↔ reviews ↔ team)

• Think like a system: is it obvious how the pieces fit?

3. 

Stop chasing clicks. Start becoming the source.

• Don’t just play the SEO game — it’s fading

• Create high-integrity content that AI systems can trust and learn from

• Use your real voice. That’s what sticks.

If You Take One Thing Away

In the AI era, discovery isn’t about being loud.

It’s about being learned.

If the system can understand and remember you, it will recommend you — again and again.

That’s how you build a company that doesn’t just survive the shift…

but becomes the answer people are shown, even when they don’t know to ask for you.

We’re still learning.

But this is what’s working for us at Elsewhere.

If you’re building something beautiful and want to make sure it’s seen by the right people in the new world — we’re here, and we’re cheering for you.

Let’s rewrite the rules together.

— Team Elsewhere