The Future of Search: What it Means for Sports, Brands and Fans
Stephanie Centola
29th Oct 2025
Search isn’t what it used to be. The blue links, the guess-the-right-keywords game, the SEO race. All of its being rewritten by AI.
Fans no longer “Google it”. They ask. They chat. They expect instant, accurate, human-sounding answers. Whether it’s “Who’s playing at the Miami Invitational?” or “Where’s the best seat to actually see the serve?” search has become conversational and that’s changing the game for brands.
At WePlay, we’ve been watching this shift closely. Here’s what we’ve learned and what it means for the sports industry, the brands that power it, and the fans who keep it alive.
From Keywords to Conversations
AI search engines, think ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s new AI Overviews don’t want your keywords; they want your curiosity.
People are no longer typing “best seats Wembley” they’re asking follow-ups, refining intent, and expecting personalised answers, not links.
And here’s the kicker: it works.
Visitors coming from ChatGPT are 4.4x more likely to convert than those from traditional search. By 2028, AI search is expected to overtake the old-school engines entirely (Semrush, 2025).
AI Search Is Already Embedded in the Fan Journey
This isn’t futuristic. It’s happening right now.
- 84% of people use AI during their shopping journey
- 46% ask AI for product answers
- 35% compare brands or products
- 35% get recommendations
- 29% hunt for deals
From ticket sales to merchandise and memberships, AI is already shaping how fans find, compare, and buy.
What This Means for Brands
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Attribution & Analytics Will Get… interesting
Your GA4 dashboard won’t tell you that a fan asked ChatGPT “What’s the best place to buy Ironman tickets?” and then ended up converting on your site.
New metrics are coming:
- Share of voice in AI outputs
- Inclusion rate in AI recommendations
- Sentiment within LLM answers
It means mixing traditional analytics with brand lift studies, media modelling & new tools (or improved existing tools).
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Traditional Search Traffic Will Drop
“Zero-click searches” are rising fast. Fans might see your answer, your product, even your prices without ever visiting your site meaning no additional people in your retargeting lists or any learnings.
Google has recently changed its traditional search results to only feature AI overview, paid results and a few organic listings sending the SEO world into chaos.
That makes proving ROI trickier, but it also shifts the focus from chasing traffic to earning trust and building authority.
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Paid Search Will Fragment
LLMs show fewer ads per query. Expect higher CPCs and new formats: sponsored answers, AI-powered placements, even brand integrations within chat experiences.
ChatGPT recently created a job listing for an ad platform engineer to help build the tools to enable OpenAI to integrate ads and monetise the 700 million weekly users. Therefore getting early access to tools like these and testing will be important to the future of search ads.
Soon, you won’t just bid for positions on Google, you’ll bid for your place inside the conversation.
What Brands Should Do
We’ve already seen what happens when you show up early.
One of our clients Ironman saw direct registrations traced back to ChatGPT referrals.
Visibility inside AI ecosystems depends on your digital footprint. LLMs train on trusted data so if your brand doesn’t live across high-authority sources, it won’t make the shortlist.
That means:
- Partnering with publishers
- Investing in digital PR
- Creating content that’s citable and credible
How to Prepare for AI Search
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Optimise for Conversations, Not Keywords
AI engines deliver answers, not lists.
Think “how to get tickets” or “is it worth travelling for this match?”
Build conversational FAQs. Write like a person, not a press release.
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Structure, Trust and Context
LLMs rank sources that show expertise and verification.
Use structured data, schema markup, and strengthen E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust).
Build content hubs that tell a complete story, not scattershot blog posts.
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Go Beyond the Webpage
Search visibility now extends into podcasts, video transcripts, social bios, and wikis.
Publish in multiple formats. Get your brand mentioned (and linked) on high-trust platforms like Reddit, Wikipedia and media sites.
And yes, make your brand’s data machine-readable through APIs and partnerships.
What We’re Doing at WePlay
We’re not sitting this one out. Our digital strategy and performance teams are already testing, measuring, and building frameworks for the AI era.
- GA4 Reporting: Tracking traffic and conversions from LLM sources
- HubSpot Analysis: Comparing AI referral patterns between clients and competitors
- Client Workshops: Demystifying AI search and attribution
- Strategic Audits: Assessing brand readiness for AI visibility
We’re also encouraging brands to experiment with test budgets dedicated to conversational ad formats and emerging AI search placements.
The Bottom Line
The line between search, chat, and discovery is blurring fast.
For sports and entertainment brands, this is an open goal. Fans are no longer finding you through clicks, but through conversations.
The winners will be the ones who show up in those conversations early:
- From keyword strategies to answer strategies
- From static websites to living ecosystems
- From chasing Google rankings to earning AI visibility
AI search isn’t a disruption. It’s an evolution and we’re already playing in that future.
LLM (Large Language Model)
A type of artificial intelligence trained on huge amounts of text. It powers tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, helping them understand questions, hold conversations and generate human-like answers instead of showing a list of links.
GA4 (Google Analytics 4)
Google’s main website tracking platform. It measures visits, clicks and conversions, but currently can’t see when a visitor first discovered a brand through an AI tool like ChatGPT.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
A page or section that directly answers common questions your fans or customers ask. Creating conversational FAQ pages helps AI and search engines understand and surface your content.
Structured Data
Extra information added to a webpage’s code to help search engines clearly understand what’s on the page for example, that it’s a match schedule, a ticket price, or a player bio.
Schema Markup
A standard format (or label system) used for structured data. It helps search engines identify key details such as event times, product names, reviews or team stats so that your content can appear in rich search results or AI answers.
E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust)
Google’s framework for assessing whether a page or author is credible. Content that shows real knowledge and trusted sources performs better in both traditional and AI-driven search.
