Entered by Choose Chicago

How do you measure organic search success when travellers no longer need to visit your website to discover information on your destination? This was the question Choose Chicago had to answer as AI assistants, AI-generated summaries, and social media started to replace the traditional search-and-click experience. Trip planners and tourists find information they need without ever landing on a DMO website.

This aforementioned shift hit organic search hard as AI-generated answers kept travellers on the search results page instead of clicking through. Brand exposure started to happen of-site rather than on it. The typical SEO metrics - clicks, sessions, and rankings - no longer told the entire story of how organic visibility translates into website traffic and engagement.