• by Maria Bailey , Columnist, August 5, 2025

Let’s be honest: Moms have changed how they search for information. Gone are the days of typing in a couple of keywords and clicking through pages of links. Today’s Gen Z and millennial moms are asking very specific, real-world questions like, “What are the best first foods for babies?” or “How do I teach my toddler water safety?” And increasingly, they expect AI to deliver the answers.

This is where Large Language Models (LLMs), the engines behind platforms like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and TikTok’s in-app AI, come into play. These tools are trained to respond with helpful, human-like insights. Unfortunately, many marketers are still writing algorithms. Moms are searching for solutions. And who are the people who speak that language best? Other moms.

That’s why influencers -- specifically, mom creators and bloggers -- are now a critical part of the AI-driven search landscape. Their content naturally mirrors the way consumers phrase their questions. It’s filled with context, emotion, nuance, and above all, authenticity. In one recent toy campaign, 25% of the blog content created by mom influencers showed up in AI-generated search previews. Not because it was engineered for search, but because it was written for people.

When I speak to brand managers about influencer ROI, I often challenge them to look beyond the typical performance metrics. Views and clicks are easy to track, but the real power of influencer content today lies in its ability to appear in LLM-powered search results. That means the same post that drives engagement on Instagram can also help answer a parent’s question in a conversational AI tool six months later.

To get there, brands need to work smarter with creators. That includes sharing keyword strategies, educating influencers on how AI interprets content, and collaborating on narratives that go beyond surface-level product mentions.

This doesn’t mean over-engineering posts. It means helping influencers lean into what they already do well: storytelling, honesty, and value-driven content.

The best-performing content today is multiformat and multidimensional: blog posts with personal anecdotes. Reels that demo a product in a real home. YouTube videos with unscripted reviews. Even comment sections matter. AI sees those signals and ranks the content accordingly.

In the age of LLM search, authenticity isn’t just good branding, it’s discoverability. Moms don’t want manufactured copy; they want answers they can trust. If marketers want to show up in that space, they’ll need to start thinking more like moms and less like marketers.