Strategic Planning
Intent Collapse: Why the Old Rules of Search No Longer Apply
In the world of AI search, the tidy buckets we once used to define user intent are breaking down. Welcome to the era of intent collapse and with it, a new challenge for brands trying to stay visible and relevant.
4 July 2025
12 min read
The Old Model: Simple, Searchable, Predictable
For years, digital marketers lived by a familiar framework:
Informational: “What is creatine?”
Navigational: “Nike official site”
Transactional: “Buy trail running shoes”
Commercial Investigation: “Best trail shoes for ultras”
Local: “Coffee shop near me”
Each query had a purpose, and we optimised content, ads, and SEO strategies around that logic. But AI search doesn’t play by those rules anymore.
The Shift: Prompts That Blur the Lines
Enter ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and others interfaces where users aren’t typing keywords. They’re giving instructions.
Take this real-world example:
“Create a weekly meal plan with 120g protein per day using UK supermarket ingredients, and recommend a protein powder that doesn’t taste like crap.”
What is that?
Informational? Yes.
Generative? Yes.
Commercial? Definitely.
Transactional? Potentially.
It’s not one intent. It’s all of them. At once.
Intent Collapse = Compression + Expectation
AI search compresses the journey:
No clicks.
No browsing.
Just one prompt, one result.
And the expectation has changed too. Users no longer want links. They want answers. Or even better—actions.
This is intent collapse:
Where the categories of search blend together, and prompts become multi-intent requests that assume the AI will decide, create, and sometimes transact on your behalf.
Why This Matters for Challenger Brands
If you’re a sub-£20m brand selling on Amazon or DTC, here’s the punchline:
🚨 You’re not being searched for. You’re being chosen by proxy.
The model decides who gets shown. You don’t win on keywords you win on how clearly your brand maps to the semantic signals the model understands.
So ask yourself:
Is your product content structured in a way an LLM can parse and summarise?
Are your reviews and copy aligned with the kinds of prompts people ask?
Do you have the credibility (in data form) to be the one the AI picks?
The New Playbook: Optimise for Outcomes
At LMO7, we help challenger brands adapt to this AI-native reality.
That means:
Prompt-led audits: How are you showing up in real-world LLM searches?
Semantic optimisation: Adjusting your content to match how people ask.
Model visibility strategy: Going beyond SEO into LLM-era brand surfacing.
Search isn’t a step in the journey anymore. It is the experience.
And when intent collapses, your brand needs to be the one that rises to the top.
For years, digital marketers lived by a familiar framework:
Informational: “What is creatine?”
Navigational: “Nike official site”
Transactional: “Buy trail running shoes”
Commercial Investigation: “Best trail shoes for ultras”
Local: “Coffee shop near me”
Each query had a purpose, and we optimised content, ads, and SEO strategies around that logic. But AI search doesn’t play by those rules anymore.
The Shift: Prompts That Blur the Lines
Enter ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and others interfaces where users aren’t typing keywords. They’re giving instructions.
Take this real-world example:
“Create a weekly meal plan with 120g protein per day using UK supermarket ingredients, and recommend a protein powder that doesn’t taste like crap.”
What is that?
Informational? Yes.
Generative? Yes.
Commercial? Definitely.
Transactional? Potentially.
It’s not one intent. It’s all of them. At once.
Intent Collapse = Compression + Expectation
AI search compresses the journey:
No clicks.
No browsing.
Just one prompt, one result.
And the expectation has changed too. Users no longer want links. They want answers. Or even better—actions.
This is intent collapse:
Where the categories of search blend together, and prompts become multi-intent requests that assume the AI will decide, create, and sometimes transact on your behalf.
Why This Matters for Challenger Brands
If you’re a sub-£20m brand selling on Amazon or DTC, here’s the punchline:
🚨 You’re not being searched for. You’re being chosen by proxy.
The model decides who gets shown. You don’t win on keywords you win on how clearly your brand maps to the semantic signals the model understands.
So ask yourself:
Is your product content structured in a way an LLM can parse and summarise?
Are your reviews and copy aligned with the kinds of prompts people ask?
Do you have the credibility (in data form) to be the one the AI picks?
The New Playbook: Optimise for Outcomes
At LMO7, we help challenger brands adapt to this AI-native reality.
That means:
Prompt-led audits: How are you showing up in real-world LLM searches?
Semantic optimisation: Adjusting your content to match how people ask.
Model visibility strategy: Going beyond SEO into LLM-era brand surfacing.
Search isn’t a step in the journey anymore. It is the experience.
And when intent collapses, your brand needs to be the one that rises to the top.