Search Is Changing – But Not All Search Is Lost: How Retailers Can Win With Embedded AI

Editor’s note: This blog is part of a three-part series exploring how AI is reshaping search, discovery and the digital commerce experience for retailers.

• Read Part 1: The Discovery Shake-Up: Why Retailers Must Rethink Visibility in the GenAI Era
• Read Part 2: Search Is Changing—But Not All Search Is Lost: How Retailers Can Win With Embedded AI
• Read Part 3: The AI Edge in Retail: Taking Back Control of Product Discovery with HCL Commerce+

When we talk about the disruption of search, the headlines often focus on what's disappearing: SEO strategies, paid placement performance, and our ability to influence how customers find us through Google.

And it’s moving faster than most people realize.

But here’s the good news: while external discovery is becoming harder to control, your digital storefront is still yours to shape. And when powered by AI, your onsite search experience can become one of your most powerful tools for converting intent into revenue.

Why Traditional SEO is Fading

Let’s set the stage. AI is fundamentally changing how consumers discover products:

• People are no longer searching with keywords—they’re asking full, conversational questions.
• Google and others are rolling out AI-powered “search assistants” that interpret prompts, not just match terms.
• Brands are being cut out of the loop—unable to see what prompts customers are using, how AI interprets them or how responses are generated.

This means traditional SEO and paid search strategies are losing effectiveness. And if black-box AI systems are mediating your visibility that you don’t control, your customer acquisition costs (CAC) may climb with little to show for it.

So, What Can You Control? Your Own Search Experience

While the rules of external discovery are shifting, your embedded site search is still a key touchpoint where you define the experience.

And this is where AI can work in your favor.

When done right, AI-powered onsite search can:

• Understand natural language queries
  Customers no longer need to think like a database. AI can interpret full-sentence prompts like “show me dresses for a fall wedding” or “I need running shoes for cold weather,” and return relevant, contextual results.
• Surface intent-driven recommendations
  By layering AI over your product catalog, you can suggest items that fit not just the query, but the mood, purpose or scenario behind it.
• Personalize results in real time
  AI can learn from browsing behavior and adjust recommendations on the fly—getting smarter with every click, scroll and filter.
• Reduce zero-result pages
  Intelligent semantic search engines can recognize synonyms, typos and cross-category relationships—ensuring customers always find something instead of nothing.

From Losing Visibility to Creating Discovery

AI may be cutting you out of external search results, but embedded search is a place where you can actually improve visibility—within your own brand ecosystem.

Here’s the opportunity: turn your search bar from a utility into a discovery engine.

• Tag products not just with color and size, but with real-life scenarios: “great for date night,” “ideal for long flights,” “perfect for layering.”
• Use AI to understand what customers really mean, not just what they type.
• Treat search as a conversation—not a transaction.

Retailers Who Win Will Focus on Trust + Experience

External platforms will constantly evolve, and AI is only accelerating that. However, the retailers who win in this next era will focus less on gaming algorithms and more on owning the experience wherever possible.

That starts with your site, your app, your store.

Because in a future where opaque AI models increasingly shape discovery, customers will seek out spaces where they feel understood. A great on-site search experience can be that space. It builds trust, shows relevance and helps customers find what they didn’t even know they were looking for.

The Bottom Line

Now is the time to invest in the search experience you own.

• External search is becoming unpredictable.
• Embedded AI-powered search gives you control.
• Retailers who use AI to power intuitive, intent-aware discovery on their own platforms will gain an edge—not just in conversions but also in customer trust.

Want to learn how embedded AI search can drive more discovery and conversion for your retail brand? Check out our latest on AI in Commerce and contact us to see a demo of our embedded AI capabilities.