Milena Traikovich is a powerhouse in the demand generation space, specializing in the delicate art of turning complex data into high-performing lead-nurturing campaigns. With a deep background in analytics and performance optimization, she has spent years helping brands navigate the shifting tides of search engine algorithms. In an era where Google is morphing into an “answer engine,” Milena’s expertise is more critical than ever for businesses trying to remain visible when traditional clicks are becoming harder to capture. Her insights provide a roadmap for local enterprises and global brands alike as they face a landscape where being a “search result” is no longer enough; one must now be the “cited answer.”
This conversation explores the structural pivot in digital marketing as generative AI redefines user behavior and search mechanics. We delve into the sobering reality of declining click-through rates, which have seen a significant contraction since the introduction of AI-generated summaries, and the simultaneous surge in conversational long-tail queries that are reaching record-breaking volumes. Milena also sheds light on why a vast majority of marketers are now prioritizing AI citations over traditional keyword rankings and how small enterprises are successfully leveraging technology to bridge the gap between human readers and machine interpretation through Generative Engine Optimization.
How do you interpret the dramatic shift where organic click-through rates are essentially being cut in half by the presence of AI summaries?
It is a sobering moment for any digital strategist to look at the data and see that traditional click-through rates drop from 15% to a mere 8% the moment an AI summary appears. This isn’t just a minor dip; it’s a fundamental change in the “search-to-visit” contract that has governed the web for two decades. When you realize that links inside those AI overviews only draw clicks in 1% of visits, you start to feel the weight of the “zero-click” reality where the user gets what they need without ever touching your site. For a business owner, this feels like having a beautiful storefront in a busy district, but everyone is just looking at the digital directory across the street instead of walking through your door. To survive this, we have to stop mourning the lost traffic and start focusing on how to ensure that the information being displayed in that directory is ours, making our brand the definitive authority in the eyes of the algorithm.
With session abandonment rising to 26% on pages with AI summaries, how should businesses redefine what “success” looks like in their marketing metrics?
The fact that abandonment jumps from 16% on traditional pages to 26% when an AI summary is present tells us that the search engine is successfully doing the work the website used to do. We are seeing a shift where traditional metrics like page views and site visits are becoming “ghost metrics”—they look important, but they don’t tell the whole story of brand visibility. Success in this new environment is measured by brand mentions and the frequency of being the cited source within that AI-generated response. It’s a move toward “agentic optimization,” where we are less concerned about the click and more concerned about the direct inquiry or the phone call that happens because the AI convinced the user of our expertise. It requires a more holistic view of the digital footprint, ensuring that core business data like hours, pricing, and locations are so clearly structured that the AI can’t help but use them.
What are the implications for local businesses now that 60% of conversational queries are triggering AI-generated summaries?
The surge in queries starting with “who,” “what,” “where,” or “why” represents a shift toward a more natural, human way of interacting with technology, but it creates a structural bottleneck for the unprepared. When 60% of these specific, intent-rich questions are answered before a user even sees a traditional link, being “invisible” to the AI essentially means you don’t exist for a majority of high-intent searchers. For a local service provider, this means your content has to evolve from being just “readable” to being “parseable” by natural language processing systems. You have to provide precise, entity-structured information that acts as a direct data source for these models. If you aren’t the one providing the clear, authoritative answer to a “why” or “how” question, your competitor—who likely took the time to structure their digital data—will be the one the AI recommends.
Why have we seen such a massive pivot, with 73% of marketers now prioritizing content specifically for AI-generated answers?
This pivot, highlighted by the 2026 Outlook Study, is a direct reaction to the changing mechanics of discovery where AI has become the defining force. Marketers are no longer just chasing keyword volume; they are trying to satisfy the reasoning patterns of AI models through what we call Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO. When 73% of your peers are moving toward content that is designed to be cited, it’s a clear signal that the “answer engine” era has arrived. This shift requires a move away from simple keyword density and toward semantic clarity and authoritative entity recognition. We are seeing a massive realignment of resources where 44% of buyers say their biggest challenge is simply keeping up with these changing consumer habits, forcing a move toward autonomous and agentic solutions that can handle the complexity of modern search.
How is the rapid adoption of generative AI—now at 58% among small businesses—changing the competitive landscape against larger brands?
The jump in adoption from 23% in 2023 to 58% in 2025 is a testament to how small enterprises are using technology as a great equalizer. It used to be that only big brands with massive SEO budgets could afford deep technical audits and complex data structuring, but AI tools have democratized that capability. Now, a local shop can use AI to manage its technical SEO, automate review responses, and ensure its services and locations are perfectly formatted for search engines to digest. This is why we see high-tech adopters reporting stronger sales and profits; they aren’t just working harder, they are ensuring their digital presence is “machine-ready.” With 84% of these owners planning to expand their tech use, the baseline for staying competitive has moved from “having a website” to “having a structured data ecosystem.”
Can you explain the tactical shift from traditional keyword targeting to the more complex “Generative Engine Optimization” marketers are now using?
The shift to GEO is about moving from the “what” to the “how” and “why” of information architecture. Instead of just stuffing a page with “plumber in Essex,” we are now focusing on semantic clarity—ensuring that every piece of content clearly identifies the “entities” involved, such as specific services, geographic service areas, and authoritative credentials. It involves using structured data markup so that large language models can reliably extract and cite the brand as a credible source. We are building “data-first” content that serves as a foundation for the AI to build its summary upon. This transition is essential because as Google Search ad revenue grows—rising 19% year-over-year in Q1 2026—the competition for the remaining organic space is becoming incredibly fierce, and only the most authoritative, well-structured content will make the cut.
What is your forecast for the future of local business discovery as search engines continue to evolve into “answer engines”?
My forecast is that we will see a “bifurcation of discovery,” where the search engine becomes a dual-layered system: a top layer of AI-driven “answers” for quick intent and a deeper layer of traditional results for complex research. Local businesses that successfully pivot to Generative Engine Optimization will essentially become the “back-end data” for these AI systems, leading to a new kind of brand loyalty that starts with an AI’s recommendation rather than a manual click. However, the 18% of searches currently featuring AI summaries will likely expand, and those who haven’t structured their digital footprint for machine comprehension by then will face a “visibility cliff.” The future belongs to the “authoritative entity”—the business that provides the clearest, most structured data to the algorithms—while those relying on old-school traffic metrics will find themselves shouting into an increasingly empty void.
