I want more AI traffic! But what content is worth creating?

[Eric Miltsch]

“I want more AI traffic.” “What are we doing to improve our GEO/AEO?” I hear these questions daily. But dealers should be asking another question first:
“What content is still worth creating when AI can answer the shopper's question without a click?”

Asking for more AI traffic without understanding shopper behavior is like asking for more showroom visitors who only come for the free hot dogs.

When a shopper searches: “What's the best midsize SUV for a family in Anytown, NY?”
AI can compare models, explain features, recommend vehicles, and estimate ownership costs. All without the shopper ever visiting a dealership website. That's useful information. It can influence a purchase decision. But it doesn't necessarily generate a lead.

Then the shopper gets more serious: “Which dealership should I buy it from near me?” AI results can highlight dealer reputations, customer reviews, locations, and business information.

Next come the questions that get closer to an actual sale:
- Do you have the vehicle in stock?
- What's the actual price of that specific vehicle?
- How much is my trade worth?

That's where your dealership website needs to connect the dots. And it's why we need to reset expectations around AI traffic.

If AI currently generates less than 0.5% of your website sessions, reaching 5% means increasing that share more than tenfold.

For a dealership website generating 100,000 monthly sessions, that's moving from fewer than 500 AI-driven visits to 5,000, assuming total traffic stays the same. That means a massive shift in shopper behavior, AI visibility, clicks, or a combination of all three.

Expect paid opportunities to remain a major part of the search experience as AI evolves. Google generated approximately $82 billion in advertising revenue in Q3 2026, including $63.35 billion from Search and other advertising. (And Google just announced its new Multiturn ads on AI Mode solution this month)

So what should dealers actually focus on to drive traffic?

Create content that helps buyers move from researching vehicles to taking action. That includes having accurate and compliant inventory pricing.

And measure the things that matter:
→ Traffic from your primary traffic channels for website visits.
→ Calls, chats, forms, and appointments for actual business results.

The goal isn't to generate more AI traffic. It's still to make sure your dealership gets discovered and chosen, regardless of where the car buyer begins. The majority of your traffic still comes from direct, organic, and paid search.

AI results are a shopping adviser. Your website is where car shoppers check for affordability, selection, and to take the next step.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Great info @Eric Miltsch

Looks as if dealer reviews and online reputation is once again an important element, just as it was in traditional search.

 

[zande299]

The hot dog analogy is perfect. Chasing AI traffic is a vanity metric if they just read and bounce. Make sure your inventory data is structured so AI actually cites you when someone searches for local availability. Focus on getting chosen, not just discovered.

 

[SheanKirin]

“I want more AI traffic.” “What are we doing to improve our GEO/AEO?” I hear these questions daily. But dealers should be asking another question first:
“What content is still worth creating when AI can answer the shopper's question without a click?”

Asking for more AI traffic without understanding shopper behavior is like asking for more showroom visitors who only come for the free hot dogs.

When a shopper searches: “What's the best midsize SUV for a family in Anytown, NY?”
AI can compare models, explain features, recommend vehicles, and estimate ownership costs. All without the shopper ever visiting a dealership website. That's useful information. It can influence a purchase decision. But it doesn't necessarily generate a lead.

Then the shopper gets more serious: “Which dealership should I buy it from near me?” AI results can highlight dealer reputations, customer reviews, locations, and business information.

Next come the questions that get closer to an actual sale:
- Do you have the vehicle in stock?
- What's the actual price of that specific vehicle?
- How much is my trade worth?

That's where your dealership website needs to connect the dots. And it's why we need to reset expectations around AI traffic.

If AI currently generates less than 0.5% of your website sessions, reaching 5% means increasing that share more than tenfold.

For a dealership website generating 100,000 monthly sessions, that's moving from fewer than 500 AI-driven visits to 5,000, assuming total traffic stays the same. That means a massive shift in shopper behavior, AI visibility, clicks, or a combination of all three.

Expect paid opportunities to remain a major part of the search experience as AI evolves. Google generated approximately $82 billion in advertising revenue in Q3 2026, including $63.35 billion from Search and other advertising. (And Google just announced its new Multiturn ads on AI Mode solution this month)

So what should dealers actually focus on to drive traffic?

Create content that helps buyers move from researching vehicles to taking action. That includes having accurate and compliant inventory pricing.

And measure the things that matter:
→ Traffic from your primary traffic channels for website visits.
→ Calls, chats, forms, and appointments for actual business results.

The goal isn't to generate more AI traffic. It's still to make sure your dealership gets discovered and chosen, regardless of where the car buyer begins. The majority of your traffic still comes from direct, organic, and paid search.

AI results are a shopping adviser. Your website is where car shoppers check for affordability, selection, and to take the next step.

There is a simple set of rules here. Follow these and you'll be visible for AI:

1. Grant /allow access to the AI bots in your robots.txt file (The best providers give this access and have better results)
   1. Remove the crawl delay that your provider put on it.
2. Have an llms.txt file installed.
   1. Most sites today do this
3. If a window pops up when you go to the site stating that it is a verification of some type, change providers. This is killing you.
4. Ensure you have proper schema setups - 4 layers deep on VDP. If it shows an error, you have a problem.
5. Ensure you have unique and current meta data.
6. Be positive that your SEO provider has listing management in your package and that you're getting the top listings management setup for maximum citations
7. Be sure that you have similar review ratings or higher to your competitors. Use a review generation/repman service. If you're 4.4 stars and your competitor is 4.7 stars, you're in trouble.
8. Visit your pricing. A much as many of us like "unlock price", AI views this is lack of transparency. This does hurt your results
9. Visit you value ads and make sure your "Why Buy" messages are on every VDP.

If you do all of this, THEN AI can read and is more likely to use your content to fill answers. Most AEO/GEO programs are only trying to make up for what proper SEO should already be doing. Don't get caught by fear mongering.