519.894.0846For years, businesses have focused their digital marketing around a fairly simple objective: get in front of the customer.
Rank well in Google. Run the right ads. Build a strong website. Create useful content. Make it easy for someone to find you, understand what you offer, and take the next step.
That model is not disappearing.
But something new is being added to it.
Increasingly, the person researching your business may have an AI assistant doing some of the work for them.
Instead of searching for a product and opening ten different websites, a customer can ask an AI platform to compare the options. Instead of researching five potential suppliers individually, a buyer can ask AI to identify which companies appear to meet a specific set of requirements.
And we are quickly moving toward a world where AI does more than research.
AI agents are beginning to take action.
For businesses, that raises an important new question:
If an AI agent is helping your next customer decide what to buy or who to contact, will it understand enough about your business to recommend you?
We Are Moving From AI Answers to AI Actions
The first phase of generative AI was largely about information.
People asked questions and AI generated answers.
The next phase is much more significant for businesses because AI systems are increasingly being designed to complete tasks on behalf of users.
Commerce is one of the clearest examples.
Consumers can already use AI to describe what they need, compare products, narrow down their choices and, in some cases, move directly toward a transaction without following the traditional search and browsing journey.
The early numbers are worth paying attention to.
According to Shopify’s Q1 2026 data, referral sessions from AI chatbots grew more than eight times year over year, while orders attributed to AI powered searches increased nearly thirteen times. Even more interesting, AI referred shoppers converted at nearly 50 percent higher rates on product detail pages than organic search visitors, while their average order values were 14 percent higher.
That does not mean AI is replacing traditional search. Organic search still sends considerably more traffic.
What it does tell us is that a new channel is developing quickly, and the traffic coming from that channel can arrive much further along in the decision process.
AI Is Compressing the Customer Journey
Think about a traditional online purchase.
Someone searches for a product. They open several websites. They compare features. They read reviews. They change their search. They visit another website. Eventually, they narrow down the options and make a decision.
An AI assistant can compress much of that activity into a single conversation.
A customer can say:
“I need a product that does this, works with this, costs less than this, and is available in Canada. What should I buy?”
The AI can potentially research the options, compare specifications, explain the differences and recommend a handful of products that fit.
That changes where the decision is happening.
The customer may still visit the website, but by the time they arrive, much of the discovery and comparison process may already be complete.
Shopify’s data provides an early indication of this behaviour. More than half of its AI referred sessions in Q1 2026 started directly on a product detail page, compared with roughly 20 percent of organic search sessions.
That is a very different customer journey.
Instead of asking businesses to help them narrow the market, customers are increasingly arriving after AI has helped them narrow it.
This Is Bigger Than Ecommerce
It would be easy to look at agentic commerce and assume this only matters to retailers.
We do not think that is where this ends.
Google has already introduced agentic capabilities that can contact certain types of local businesses on a user’s behalf. AI platforms are increasingly capable of researching companies, comparing services, evaluating information and completing multi step tasks.
Imagine a purchasing manager asking an AI agent:
“Find three Canadian manufacturers capable of producing this component, compare their capabilities and identify which companies appear best suited for our project.”
Or a homeowner asking:
“Find reputable HVAC contractors near me that install heat pumps, have strong reviews and provide financing.”
Or a business owner asking:
“Compare digital marketing agencies that have experience working with manufacturers and B2B companies.”
These are not unrealistic scenarios anymore.
The AI system may become an intermediary between the buyer and the businesses competing for that buyer’s attention.
And that means the traditional concept of digital visibility is changing.
Your Website May Need to Convince Machines Before It Convinces People
This does not mean businesses should start creating websites for robots.
People remain the customer.
But the information that helps a person understand your company also needs to be clear enough for search engines and AI systems to interpret accurately.
Consider a manufacturer whose website says:
“Delivering innovative solutions and unparalleled quality for more than 30 years.”
That might sound good in a brochure.
But what does the company actually manufacture?
Which industries does it serve?
What materials does it work with?
What tolerances can it achieve?
Where does it ship?
What certifications does it hold?
What size projects can it handle?
Those details are valuable to a potential customer, but they are also exactly the kind of information an AI system needs when deciding whether the business is relevant to a particular request.
The same principle applies to retailers, professional services companies, contractors, distributors and almost every other type of business.
Vague marketing language is becoming less useful.
Specificity is becoming a competitive advantage.
Your Business Data Is Becoming Part of Your Marketing
For ecommerce companies, this shift is already becoming very tangible.
OpenAI expanded its Agentic Commerce Protocol in 2026 to support richer product discovery in ChatGPT, allowing merchants to provide product feeds and promotional information. Shopify Catalog similarly structures merchant product information so AI channels can understand and recommend products.
Google is building its own agentic commerce infrastructure around the Universal Commerce Protocol, which is designed to help AI agents interact with businesses throughout the shopping journey.
The important point for business leaders is not which protocol eventually becomes dominant.
It is what they all have in common.
AI systems need reliable information.
Product descriptions, specifications, pricing, inventory, availability, locations, policies, reviews and other structured business information are becoming more important parts of digital marketing infrastructure.
Historically, some businesses treated this information as back end housekeeping.
Going forward, it may directly influence whether AI can understand, compare and recommend what you sell.
Being Recommended Is Different From Ranking
Traditional SEO taught businesses to compete for positions.
You wanted to rank first, second or third for an important search.
AI discovery introduces a slightly different challenge.
The objective is increasingly to become one of the businesses an AI system considers relevant enough to mention or recommend.
That requires more than inserting keywords into a page.
AI needs evidence that helps establish what your company does and why it may be a credible option.
That evidence can come from your own website, but it can also come from the broader digital footprint around your business.
Detailed service and product pages matter.
Technical content matters.
Customer reviews matter.
Case studies matter.
Industry mentions matter.
Accurate business listings matter.
Original expertise matters.
Clear company information matters.
Structured data matters.
The businesses with the strongest digital presence will give both people and machines more reasons to understand and trust them.
The Opportunity Is Not to Chase Every New AI Platform
There is also a danger here.
Every major technology shift creates a rush of new tactics, acronyms and promises.
Businesses do not need to rebuild their entire marketing strategy every time an AI company releases a new feature.
The fundamentals still matter.
Build a strong website.
Create genuinely useful content.
Clearly explain your products and services.
Demonstrate expertise.
Maintain accurate business and product information.
Earn credibility outside your own website.
Understand what customers are actually asking.
Measure what turns into leads, opportunities and revenue.
What is changing is how those fundamentals are being consumed.
Your website is no longer being read only by people and traditional search crawlers. Increasingly, the information you publish may be interpreted by AI systems acting on behalf of potential customers.
That makes a strong digital foundation more important, not less.
What Should Businesses Be Doing Now?
For most companies, preparing for agentic discovery does not require an enormous new technology investment.
It starts with an audit of what AI can currently understand about the business.
Ask some basic questions.
Can someone quickly determine exactly what you sell?
Are important products and services described in enough detail?
Are specifications and differentiators easy to find?
Does your website answer the questions customers actually ask during the buying process?
Do you have credible examples of your work?
Is information consistent across your website, business listings, product feeds and other platforms?
Can you clearly demonstrate why someone should choose you over a competitor?
Then test it.
Ask major AI platforms about your company, your competitors and the products or services you sell.
See which businesses appear.
Look at how they are described.
More importantly, look at why those companies may be easier for AI to understand and recommend than yours.
That exercise alone can uncover significant gaps in a digital strategy.
The Companies That Prepare Early Have an Opportunity
We are still early in this transition.
That matters.
When Google Search became important, businesses that invested early in SEO had an opportunity to establish positions that became increasingly difficult for competitors to challenge.
When social media became a major marketing channel, early adopters built audiences before competition became overwhelming.
AI discovery may create a similar window.
The objective should not be to abandon SEO, paid advertising, email, social media or other proven channels.
It should be to make sure the digital foundation supporting those channels is also ready for the next generation of customer discovery.
Because the question businesses will increasingly need to answer is no longer simply:
“Can customers find us?”
It is also:
“When AI helps customers decide, are we one of the businesses it understands well enough to recommend?”
Frequently Asked Questions About AI Agents and Business Discovery
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is a system that can perform tasks on behalf of a user rather than simply answering a question. Depending on the application, an agent might research options, compare products, contact businesses, make recommendations or help complete a transaction.
What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce refers to shopping experiences where AI assists with multiple stages of the purchase journey, including discovery, comparison, selection and potentially checkout. Major technology and ecommerce platforms are actively building infrastructure to support these experiences.
Can AI agents actually purchase products?
Yes, some AI experiences already support transactions or parts of the purchasing process. OpenAI, Google, Shopify and other technology companies are developing systems that allow AI agents to move beyond product discovery toward transactions and other actions.
Does this mean SEO is becoming less important?
No. Search remains a major discovery channel, and many of the fundamentals that make a website strong for SEO also help AI systems understand a business. The larger shift is that businesses now need to think about visibility across both traditional search and AI driven discovery.
How can a business increase its chances of being recommended by AI?
There is no single optimization that guarantees an AI recommendation. Businesses should focus on clearly describing their products and services, publishing useful and authoritative content, maintaining accurate structured information, demonstrating real experience, earning credible third party mentions and building a strong overall digital presence.
Is AI agent optimization only important for ecommerce companies?
No. Ecommerce is currently one of the clearest examples because product discovery and transactions are relatively easy to structure. But AI agents are also beginning to assist with local services, B2B research, vendor comparison and other business decisions. Companies outside ecommerce should be preparing for the same broader shift.
How M3 Digital Can Help Businesses Prepare
At M3 Digital, we see AI discovery as an evolution of digital marketing rather than a replacement for everything that came before it.
SEO, paid media, content, analytics, website development and conversion strategy remain important. But businesses now need to consider how those pieces work together to create a digital presence that can be understood across traditional search, AI platforms and emerging agent driven experiences.
That means looking beyond rankings and traffic.
It means understanding how your business is represented online, identifying information gaps, developing authoritative content, improving technical structure and making sure your digital presence reflects the expertise that already exists inside your organization.
The businesses that get this right will not simply be easier to find.
They will be easier to evaluate, easier to trust and ultimately easier to recommend.
And as AI takes a larger role in customer decision making, that could become one of the most important competitive advantages a business can build.
