For years, the internet felt like an arms race: biggest budget wins, loudest brand wins, whoever buys the most attention wins. That game isn’t over, but a new one is running alongside it—and this one finally favours small businesses. AI “answer engines” (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) are becoming the middle layer between customers and choices. They don’t scroll through your homepage like a human. They scan, skim, and lift the clearest, most useful bits of information. If you’r