New whitepaper from ERGO and ECODYNAMICS on AI-assisted online searches

The ERGO Innovation Lab, an incubator for new ideas and spin-ins at ERGO Group AG, and the AI specialists at ECODYNAMICS have now released a whitepaper on AI-assisted online searches. 

Titled “From SEO to AI search optimisation: How Large Language Models are redefining digital visibility”, the roughly 30-page-long publication shows how fundamentally Large Language Model (LLMs) can change users’ online search behaviour, and what this means for digital visibility in the insurance sector.

According to Luisa Schmolke, an Innovation Manager at the ERGO Innovation Lab: “Online searches are currently in a phase of massive transformation: AI-based systems not only offer more information; they increasingly accompany users through entire decision-making processes. Anyone who wants to be digitally visible today – and stay that way tomorrow – needs to understand how these systems work and actively shape them to ensure they continue to reach their core target groups.”

Hamidreza Hosseini, CEO of ECODYNAMICS, adds: “Our study and corresponding criteria show managers, marketing heads, and digital teams how generative AI and agentic systems are impacting the rules of digital visibility. Those who grasp this logic, and who apply it strategically and early, can remain relevant in the age of AI searches and effectively reach their clients.”

The whitepaper is based on an empirical study that assessed more than 33,000 search results from classical search engines and AI-based systems. In turn, the results were used to analyse a selection taken from more than 600 websites on the German insurance market – including those of primary insurers, intermediaries and digital price comparison services, as well as those offering free editorial content with a focus on insurance and financial topics. The goal of the analysis was to identify structural and content-related success factors for visibility in LLM-based searching systems.

It provides essential insights on the visibility of firms in LLM search environments, together with hands-on advice for content, digital and marketing teams looking to prepare for LLM-optimised visibility early in the game. Large language models, for example, don’t just retrieve what’s popular. They retrieve what’s readable, structured, and semantically clear. This calls for updated strategies around visibility, content structure, and quality assurance in an evolving search landscape.

The whitepaper can be downloaded for free in German or English here.