> CAN AI FIND YOUR BUSINESS For years, flower shoppers typed


“florist near me” into a search engine, sifted through results and compared web- sites. Now, they can give an AI chatbot specific criteria — occasion, budget and preferred flowers — and receive a short list of recommendations within seconds. From there, they visit the suggested web- sites and make the final decision. The global statistics and research


database Statista estimates that 15 million U.S. adults used generative AI as their primary search method in 2024, a figure expected to more than double by 2028. “We’re not preparing for an


AI-driven future — it’s already here,” says Barry Gottlieb, a floral industry business coach, author and mentor, who gave a keynote address at the Society of American Florists’ 141st annual conven- tion in August about remaining curious, adaptable and creative amid rapid tech- nological change. Research firm Ahrefs found that


average web search traffic fell 21% year over year through 2025, while AI-driven traffic to websites grew nearly tenfold in the same period. And that trend is expected to continue. A 2025 study by the digital marketing analytics company Semrush predicts that AI search visitors will overtake traditional search visitors for SEO and marketing topics by early 2028. Data suggests AI-referred shoppers


are often more purchase-ready than traditional search users. Visibility Labs, a web traffic analysis firm, found that ChatGPT-referred visitors converted 30 percent better than those arriving through nonbranded organic search, while other studies have reported even larger conversion and revenue advan- tages for AI-driven traffic.


How AI Makes Recommendations Understanding how and why AI makes recommendations differently from Google is crucial for florists looking to improve their visibility. “We have been shaped by Google to use very short, cryptic words” when using


Put Your Website to the Test


Ready to see whether AI will recommend your business? Turn to the Digital Strategy column on p. 38 for instructions on how to audit your digital presence — and make it stronger.


a search engine, says Dan McManus, founder and CEO of TeamFloral. A search for “florist” often produces the same results as a much more detailed query because Google relies heavily on factors such as proximity, reviews and Google Business Profile optimization. “We’ve been very bound by Google’s choice to show people the closest florist, not nec- essarily the best florist,” McManus says. Those organic search results are also often topped by paid advertisements. AI models work differently. For now,


chatbot recommendations don’t include paid advertisements, and AI looks beyond keywords, drawing from reviews, recent social media posts and pages throughout a website. It is especially interested in out-


comes: evidence that a business can satisfy a user’s specific needs. A florist’s website is treated as a source of claims, which AI may check against customer reviews. Rather than relying on ratings alone, it looks for recurring evidence of longevity, portfolio quality and whether a shop designs and delivers its own work. Five-star reviews without explanations offer little context about why customers were satisfied. Delivery area can also matter more


than physical address when AI recom- mends a florist — a meaningful departure from Google’s proximity-driven approach.


What This Means for Florists For florists who built their online pres- ence around traditional SEO, this shift raises the stakes on differentiation. For decades, florist websites were


built to showcase products, not dis- tinguish businesses, says Sundaram Natarajan, founder of gotFlowers?, a floral e-commerce platform.


Check your inbox for SAF’s newsletter, SAF News Now, or head to the industry news page on safnow.org to see the “AI Visibility Playbook,” a new series of articles offering detailed, practical guidance to help AI find, understand and recommend your business.


32 FLORAL MANAGEMENT | September/October 2026 | WWW.SAFNOW.ORG


“So, all of a sudden today, what’s


happened is AI needs you to differ- entiate yourself,” Natarajan says. He suggests florists think about what they are good at, why they are good at it, and the evidence they can present online to back it up. That evidence must be spelled out,


not implied. “Sympathy specialists” means little to AI without evidence. A dedicated page can explain how the shop works with grieving families, which funeral homes it serves and how it incor- porates personal keepsakes into designs — details that photos alone may not convey. Reviews describing the florist’s care and empathy can independently reinforce those claims. In other words, the florist who wins


the AI recommendation isn’t necessar- ily the one with a more unique catalog. It’s the one who has done the work of explaining (or whose customers have), in plain text, why their business is worth choosing.


Practical Steps for AI Visibility Florists don’t need to abandon SEO fun- damentals; they need to build on them, says John Ludwig, vice president of mar- keting and commerce for Teleflora. “The world is changing, but the fundamentals still matter, so if you have a good founda- tion, you’re probably further along than you think,” he says. Here are a few concrete, actionable


steps florists can take to improve their AI visibility:


Add photo captions and descriptions. Many florists let their designs and pho- tography “speak for them,” Ludwig says. But AI can’t reliably identify flowers from a photo alone. Websites need to describe the arrangements to catch AI’s attention when users ask for help finding an arrangement with specific flowers. Example: “White casket spray for a tra-


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