Search didn't disappear. It expanded.

Google still matters. But buyers are also using ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI systems to research companies, compare options and make decisions.

That doesn't mean throwing out what already works. It means re-evaluating whether the strategy, priorities and measurements that worked before still fit the way discovery works now.

That's the target that moved.

When an outside read matters

You're new to the role. You've inherited the team, agency and strategy, but you need to know what you've actually inherited.

Something isn't working. Organic performance is slipping, explanations conflict, or you're not confident the roadmap addresses the real problem.

Something big is changing. New agency. Redesign. CMS migration. Major content investment. New AI Search initiative.

The team is capable, but the target is moving. You don't need another person doing SEO. You need senior independent judgment about what everyone should be doing.

What I do

I don't replace your team. I help make sure they're working on the right things.

You already have people who can run crawls, create content, make technical changes and execute a roadmap.

My job is different.

When I act as an Independent SEO & AI Search Advisor, I look across your current strategy, your site, your search performance and how your company appears across Google and AI.

When I act as your Fractional Director, SEO & AI Search, I continue to challenge assumptions, separate real priorities from noise, and give leadership an independent view of what to Stay, Change, Stop, Start or Investigate.

The Framework

While most of the automated traffic on your site is made up of routine analytics bots or random AI question bots, more and more of it is what I call “Proxy Buyers.” Those are the AI agents sent by a human to seriously research you in connection with a buying decision.

In addition to considering how traditional search visitors consume your site, I evaluate it in terms of these new visitors as well, asking questions and digging into these layers:

Find

Can agents find you?

The infrastructure layer. Are AI crawlers blocked, welcomed, or bewildered?

Learn more →

Understand

Can agents understand you?

The structure layer. If agents can parse it, can they interpret it?

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Trust

Can agents trust you?

The authority layer. Will you earn the citations, or be ignored?

Learn more →

Use

Can agents do anything with you?

The capability layer. Will agents be able to act on your business, or just describe it?

Learn more →

Not every company needs to act on all four layers today. Part of my job is knowing what matters now and what can wait.

Meet Liz Micik

Liz Micik has spent 28 years as the person companies call when the structure of the website itself is the problem. Now she's tackling the biggest structural shift any of us have seen: the transition from a human to an agentic web.

Read Liz's full story →

Let's talk strategy

You don't need to chase every shift. You need to know which ones matter, and whether your team is on them.

Or reach me directly at info@lizmicik.com