The next phase of search: What OpenAI’s Atlas tells us about the AI-first web

When OpenAI quietly released Atlas, a browser where ChatGPT is the main interface, it looked at first like another AI experiment. But look a little closer and it signals something much bigger – a change in how the web itself is read and used.

Atlas doesn’t just summarise pages. It moves through them too – clicking buttons, scrolling product grids, closing pop-ups, even testing checkout flows. In short, it behaves like a person, not a crawler.

That’s a big shift. For years, SEO and paid media have focused on being found: making sure people and bots could discover your content. The next phase is about being actionable: making sure AI agents can actually do something with it.

From blue links to usable sites

Atlas won’t be the only one. Google’s AI Mode, Perplexity’s Comet browsing, and other similar systems are heading the same way. They’re all moving towards chat-first search, where blue links are no longer the main event. For brands, that changes the rules:

• Agent usability becomes important to visibility. A site that loads quickly, runs smoothly, and uses structured data well will be far easier for AI agents to understand than one bogged down by scripts and cluttered UX.
  
  
• Conversion will look different. When an AI completes the task – finding, comparing, buying – the usual journey from impression to action shrinks. Paid media teams will need to adapt to that.
  
  
• International adds another layer. An AI agent shopping for ‘organic skincare gift set under $100’ in Sydney or ‘delivery by Friday’ in Tokyo has to understand not just language, but pricing, fulfilment, and local expectations. That’s where local experts still matter: AI can complete the task, but only humans truly grasp the nuance, and we know that small differences can make or break performance.

It’s easy to dismiss this as something far off. But the groundwork is already here. Most websites aren’t ready for this kind of interaction, because they’re weighed down with JavaScript, messy data, or poor localisation that confuses automated systems. In the short term, that creates opportunity for the brands that fix it: fast, clean, structured sites will gain an early advantage.

What happens when AI can’t find good answers?

There’s also a bigger question. If AI tools like Atlas are trained to look for clear, reliable answers, what happens when they can’t find them? If a website is slow, vague, or hard to navigate, will the AI simply skip it? Possibly. The usefulness of Atlas depends on the quality of the answers it serves, so it may learn to ignore sites that don’t perform. In that case, discoverability could start to depend not just on SEO, but on AI usability. If your site can’t be used by an agent, it could soon be invisible to users.

What you should do now

1. Test how your sites behave for AI agents. Try simulating how a bot interacts with your pages. If a human user in Germany or Japan can buy a product easily but an AI can’t reach the checkout, that’s a visibility problem in waiting.
   
   
2. Keep structured data consistent and clear. Schema markup is one of the ways AI understands and checks information, but it’s not the only one. Basic structure, such as clear headings, tables, lists, and clearly grouped sections of content, helps AI systems parse and trust your pages too. Make sure your product, price, and delivery information is correct across languages and currencies. Even small mismatches could confuse AI systems.
   
   
3. Use local language and insight. AI systems detect meaning, not just keywords. Pages that reflect real local phrasing – ‘trainers’ in the UK, ‘sneakers’ in the US, ‘chaussures de sport’ in France – will be more relevant. The same goes for paid ads: local tone and terminology matter more than ever.
   
   
4. Simplify your pages. Remove unnecessary scripts and make core tasks like filtering, adding to basket, or checkout fast and clean. What’s good for AI agents is usually good for users too (and improves paid media conversion rates).
   
   
5. Check your Cloudflare and hosting settings. Some new features automatically block AI crawlers – including OpenAI’s and Google’s – which brands may not realise are active. Make sure your visibility tools aren’t being blocked at source.
   
   
6. Watch how AI tools treat your content. Tools like Atlas and Google’s AI Mode are evolving rapidly. Build monitoring into your SEO and paid strategies to see how your content performs across different markets and formats over time.

Atlas offers a glimpse of what’s next – a web where AI doesn’t just find content but acts on it. For marketers, the question is shifting from ‘Can people find us?’ to ‘Can AI use us effectively?’

Oban helps brands adjust to the AI era. We combine insight from our LIMEs with expertise in SEO, paid media, and UX to make websites ready for both humans and machines across every market in which you operate. To find out how your brand can stay visible in an AI-first world, get in touch.