Why Being Human Matters More Than Ever in AI Search
By Greg Vellante, Generative Search & Automation Lead
There was once a time when buying a car meant stepping onto a lot, shaking hands with a salesperson, and having a real conversation. No clicks. No chatbots. No AI Overviews. Just two people talking through options, concerns, and whether you really needed that seating surface or upgraded sound system.
The dealerships that thrived weren't necessarily the ones with the biggest billboards or the catchiest radio jingles. They were the ones where you felt heard, where the salesperson knew their stuff, and where you walked away feeling like you'd been treated fairly. If you had a terrible experience at a dealership, it didn't matter how much they advertised—you weren't going back. And you definitely weren't going to recommend them to your friends and family. That human element—trust, transparency, and expertise delivered without pressure—was everything. It still is.
Last week at MozCon 2025 in New York City, I attended sessions that reinforced a crucial truth about the future of automotive marketing: despite the rise of AI-generated content and AI-powered search results, the humanity behind your marketing matters more now than ever before.
Be Seen. Be Believed. Be Chosen.
In his session Algorithms Can't Save You: How to Future-Proof Your Content Beyond AI and LLMs, Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive laid out a framework that should be posted on every digital marketer's wall:
SEEN. BELIEVED. CHOSEN.
Being seen is table stakes. In today's AI search landscape, anyone can churn out content that appears in a Google AI Overview or ChatGPT result. Throw some generic FAQ content on your site about auto loan terms or what that dashboard light means, and you just might show up in search results.
But here's the problem: visibility alone doesn't equal sales. Conversations matter far more, and that's why people and algorithms alike are rewarding what feels authentic, credible, and valuable.
Being believed is where the real work begins. When a potential customer reads your content, do they trust it? Does it sound like it came from someone who knows what they're talking about, or does it read like it was generated in 30 seconds by a bot?
And then comes the ultimate goal: being chosen. Even if your content shows up in search results, even if users believe what you're saying, will they choose your dealership over the competition?
This is where the human element becomes non-negotiable.
The Human Touch in a World of AI Content
Any dealership can publish content about common car-buying questions. But having actual people—your sales team, your service advisors, your general manager—answer those questions makes all the difference.
When a real person explains how your dealership approaches trade-ins, or when a technician breaks down what that check engine light really means, it creates a connection that generic AI content simply cannot replicate. That authenticity is what moves customers from "I saw this dealership's name mentioned online" to "I trust this dealership" to "I'm buying my car here."
This mirrors exactly what made those pre-Internet dealerships successful: the human interaction that built trust, demonstrated expertise, and created relationships that lasted beyond a single transaction.
Search Is Becoming Conversational Again
Dr. Pete Meyers, Principal Innovation Architect for Moz, drove this point home in his session The Infinite Tail: Keyword Research for AI. He unpacked how large language models are transforming keyword research and why natural language is becoming the new search currency.
Here's what clicked for me: we're coming full circle. When people walked onto a car lot decades ago, the entire buying process was rooted in conversation. One question led to an answer, which sparked another question, which opened up a new topic and so forth. Eventually, this could result in a handshake, a signed contract, and a new car driven off the lot. It was natural. It was human.
Search is starting to follow that same trajectory. Instead of typing in rigid keyword phrases like "best SUV under 40k," people are asking ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity questions like, "What's a reliable family SUV that won't break the bank, and what should I look for in a test drive?"
This shift toward fan-out queries (predicting what types of things people might search for next) and semantic coverage means that the content answering these questions needs to feel equally conversational and genuinely helpful. It can't be robotic. It can't be surface-level. It needs to sound like something a knowledgeable person would actually say if you asked them face-to-face.
Authenticity Is the New Differentiator
The irony isn't lost on me: in an era where AI can generate hundreds of pages of content in minutes, the thing that sets your dealership apart is being unmistakably, authentically human.
Automotive shoppers can spot generic AI content from a mile away. They're looking for local insights, honest comparisons, and a bit of personality. They want to know that there's a real person and a real business behind the content they're reading.
If your content reflects your team's expertise, your community's unique needs, and your dealership's specific approach to customer service, that's when you move beyond being seen to being believed and then, most importantly, being chosen.
The Road Ahead
AI search isn't going away. In fact, adoption is growing quickly. But as Wil Reynolds and Dr. Pete Meyers respectively reminded us at MozCon, visibility and keywords alone aren't enough. People—and increasingly, algorithms—are looking for signals that feel authentic, credible, and valuable.
That means your AI search strategy shouldn't be about gaming the system or churning out content for content's sake. It should be about amplifying what you already do well: demonstrating expertise, building trust and creating genuine connections with customers.
The dealerships that succeed in the AI search era will be the ones that remember what made them successful in the first place—not the biggest billboards, but the best conversations. Because at the end of the day, people still buy cars from people they trust. And no algorithm can fake that.
How Auto Dealers Can Win in AI Overviews: Insights from a 151-Dealership Study
At C-4 Analytics, we help automotive dealerships create content strategies that balance AI efficiency with authentic human expertise. If you're looking to improve your performance in AI search while maintaining the human touch that builds trust with customers, let's talk.