Gen Z, AI, and visual-first discovery are reshaping how marketers track, influence, and convert audiences
Aug 19, 2025
In today’s AI‑driven era, the once-linear marketing funnel is fragmenting into a fluid, multi‑platform experience. Users now interact across diverse touchpoints—such as voice assistants, TikTok videos, Reddit discussions, image search, and AI summaries—making traditional tracking models increasingly ineffective. Marketer Dan Taylor explores how SEO and marketing strategies must evolve to meet audiences within these invisible, non‑linear journeys.
Key takeaways
The funnel still exists—but it’s invisible
- The classic awareness → consideration → conversion funnel remains relevant but has become hidden and harder to trace.
- Users move across fragmented platforms with no clear signals—like asking ChatGPT, scrolling through TikTok, or sending a forwarded link—which degrades attribution accuracy.
What multimodal search really means
- Multimodal search is more than just switching between text, voice, or image—it’s about users engaging across platforms, behaviors, and formats in unpredictable ways.
- The journey might involve querying Google, watching videos on TikTok, browsing Amazon listings, reading Reddit, or consulting AI like Amazon’s Rufus.
Generation Z leads the multimodal shift
- Gen Z (ages 18–24) is the fastest‑growing demographic on Google Search.
- About 1 in 10 of their searches now begin with a visual interaction—using tools like Google Lens or “Circle to Search”—and bypassing traditional typed queries.
Content must match behavior, not just intent
- Brands must move beyond single personas and static pathways, embracing overlapping intent signals and multiple content formats (text, video, audio, structured data, conversational prompts).
- Traditional attribution models—like last‑click—no longer reflect reality, missing invisible influences along the journey.
Distribution across platforms is essential
- Websites remain important, but they’re just one piece of the puzzle. Marketers should distribute content across third‑party platforms, social channels, structured data, and multimedia ecosystems.
- SEO impact now arises from a broad presence across the open web since search engines and AI models draw context from diverse sources—not just owned domains.
Be present in invisible moments
- Influence frequently occurs in places marketers can’t observe directly.
- The new mindset is about anticipation—designing for paths previously unseen—rather than mere observation or focusing solely on end-goal metrics.
Get the full story at Search Engine Journal
