76% of Brands Invisible in AI Search as Generative Engine Optimization Becomes Critical

Mirror, mirror who's the most visible of them all?

AI search is reshaping online discovery. Brands are shifting their content strategies to ensure visibility within AI answers and recommendations. This new focus, known as Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), is becoming a significant budget item for marketers. Experts predict intensified monetisation efforts by AI search companies, with ad bids potentially exceeding traditional platforms. For at least a year now, Google isn't your only search tool. You probably spend as much time, or even more, in ChatGPT or Claude. Yet, Google seeks your continued loyalty. It presents you with the 'AI Overview' and its own AI tool, Gemini. The AI-fication of search has shaken the world of digital marketing; decades-old rules are being rewritten. For brands, ranking first on Google means only so much. The new battleground for eyeballs and mindspace is the AI chat window. Brands are scrambling for visibility inside AI-generated responses. The urgency in their approach is justified: users across OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Anthropic's Claude have swelled to a billion according to some estimates. In step with this change, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) has become the new buzzword in digital marketing. Google has already started expanding brand opportunities within AI Overviews and AI Mode, and its Ads support documentation now explains how ads can appear in AI Overviews. OpenAI has started testing ads in ChatGPT for users in the US and forecasts that its ad revenues could reach $2.5 billion in 2026 and $100 billion in 2030. Meanwhile, Perplexity has tested sponsored follow-up questions and video-style ad placements around AI answers. Experts believe the monetisation efforts among AI-search companies will intensify over the next 6-12 months, with ad bids pricing expected to be 5-10 times higher than traditional advertising suites offered by Google and Meta. While they are devising their ad monetisation strategies, brands have begun optimising their content for AI platforms and spending on GEO measurement tools. For chief marketing officers, GEO is emerging as a major budget line item. The share of voice Prashant Puri, CEO and cofounder of digital marketing firm AdLift, said AI search platforms now account for nearly 10-15% of the global search market. While the global SEO market is currently worth around $100-120 billion, GEO enterprise spending alone could grow to $10-15 billion over the next 2-3 years. Sameer Jain, head D2C Business at Axis Max Life Insurance, said that category searches and long-tail searches on Google have declined, leading to lower traffic on informational blog articles of websites. Info Edge reported that its educational information discovery website Shiksha's decline in traffic due to AI search is now directly impacting billings. Its March quarter billings dropped 13% on-year, the platform's first decline in six quarters. "User behaviour on platforms like OpenAI's ChatGPT is fundamentally different. Instead of typing short keyword searches, users are now asking nuanced and research-oriented questions such as, 'What is the ideal life insurance plan for a salaried individual aged 30?'," Jain said. "We are unable to measure the lead potential on such platforms because there is no click-through," he added. Therefore, brands are now accessing new tools which measure the share of voice (SOV) on AI platforms. Content is the king "AI systems are no longer evaluating content in isolation. They are looking at broader trust signals -- including the credibility of the author, the authority of the publishing platform, how frequently the content is cited or referenced across the web, and the wider digital footprint of the brand or topic across authoritative sites and public platforms," Adlift's Puri said. One big shift is that content now has to genuinely help consumers make decisions, said Vivek Goel, chief business officer, FirstCry.com. "In parenting especially, mothers are not just looking for products -- they are looking for reassurance, clarity and practical guidance. Content backed by experts, real parent experiences and practical use cases is becoming increasingly important in this environment," he explained. FirstCry sees AI-originated sessions growing sharply over the last year, including 15x growth in web traffic, Goel said. The biggest shift is from keyword-led content to answer-ready content. That changes the content playbook, said Subhashis Guha, Principal leader -- Performance and SEO at WPP Media. "Brands need clear executive summaries, direct answers to consumer questions, comparison tables, FAQs, proof points, expert authorship, product/entity clarity and structured data. The goal is not to create more content, but to create content that is more credible, machine-readable and useful at decision moments," Guha said. The company is winning some pure-play GEO mandates and some large SEO programs are moving towards AI visibility and GEO-led optimisation. Over the next 2-3 years, we expect GEO to become an always-on discovery workstream for categories such as auto, BFSI, healthcare, consumer goods, travel, technology and retail, Guha said. The risks GEO systems are also creating risks of misinformation, manipulation, or "AI answer gaming", similar to how SEO led to keyword stuffing and spam tactics in earlier internet eras. This is especially because LLMs hallucinate and are probabilistic in nature rather than deterministic. "Every new visibility system creates incentives for manipulation. In SEO, that showed up as keyword stuffing, link spam and thin content. In GEO, the risk could show up as synthetic reviews, fake brand mentions, manipulated forum discussions, low-quality AI-generated content, citation farming, entity confusion and attempts to influence what LLMs retrieve or trust," WPP's Guha said.

76% of Brands Are Missing From AI Recommendations Consumers Increasingly Trust: DareAISearch Study

The next battle for brand visibility may not happen on Page 1 of Google. It may happen inside AI-generated answers consumers increasingly trust. As AI platforms increasingly shape how consumers discover products, services, and brands online, a new study by DareAISearch reveals that most businesses remain largely invisible within AI-generated recommendation ecosystems. According to the latest SearchScore AI Visibility Study, 76.4% of brands scored below 40% in AI visibility across platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and other generative AI search environments. The study analyzed 254 unique websites across industries during the 24-hour Product Hunt launch window of SearchScore AI and evaluated how consistently brands appeared, were cited, or recommended within AI-generated responses. The findings suggest that visibility itself is being redefined as consumers increasingly rely on AI-generated recommendations instead of traditional browsing journeys. Key Findings: * Low AI Visibility: 76.4% of brands scored below 40% in AI visibility across AI-generated search and recommendation platforms. * Strong AI Discoverability: Only 7.9% of brands demonstrated strong visibility and recommendation performance across AI ecosystems. * Google Page 1 Gap: 52% of brands ranking on Google's first page failed to appear in AI-generated recommendations. * FAQ Impact: Brands with structured FAQ sections received nearly 3x more AI mentions than those without them. * Search-led Advantage: Search-led brands recorded 61% higher AI visibility compared to brands relying primarily on social media-led discovery. * Global Gap: US-based brands appeared nearly twice as frequently as Indian brands in AI-generated recommendations. The study found that commercial queries represented over 53.8% of AI-search interactions analyzed, indicating that AI-generated answers are already influencing buying behavior, brand discovery, and purchase consideration. Importantly, traditional SEO visibility no longer guarantees AI discoverability. More than half of the brands ranking on Google's first page failed to appear in AI-generated recommendations, highlighting the emergence of what DareAISearch describes as a new visibility layer beyond traditional search rankings. While search engines traditionally presented users with multiple options, AI systems increasingly surface only a handful of recommendations. This concentration effect could create significant winners and invisible losers across industries as consumers place growing trust in AI-generated answers. The report also highlights a widening AI discoverability gap between Indian and Western brands. While 64% of US-based brands appeared consistently across AI-generated recommendations, only 31% of Indian brands demonstrated strong visibility across conversational AI ecosystems. However, sectors such as healthcare, SaaS, education, D2C commerce, and professional services are beginning to adapt more actively to AI-led discovery behavior. What Drives AI Visibility? Brands that consistently achieved stronger AI visibility demonstrated: * Structured FAQ ecosystems * Educational and explanatory content * Strong third-party mentions and citations * Clear service and product descriptions * Search-friendly website architecture * Consistent authority-driven publishing Industry Visibility Trends The report observed that healthcare and wellness brands exhibited some of the strongest AI visibility patterns, while D2C and internet-first companies adapted significantly faster to AI-search behavior than traditional offline-first businesses. Interestingly, several SaaS companies with strong SEO performance still demonstrated weaker-than-expected recommendation visibility within AI-generated responses. The findings also revealed that niche brands often outperformed larger competitors when contextual authority mattered more than broad brand awareness. In certain categories, the top few brands captured nearly 70% of recommendation visibility share, suggesting that conversational AI ecosystems may become significantly more concentrated than traditional search. "For years, brands optimized to rank on search engines. Now they must optimize to be trusted by AI systems. The difference is massive because AI doesn't just retrieve information anymore it increasingly shapes decisions." by Siddhartha Vanvani, Founder & CEO, DareAISearch The Rise of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) The report positions Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) as the next major evolution of digital visibility strategy. As AI-generated answers increasingly replace traditional browsing journeys, brands are expected to invest more heavily in: * AI-friendly content structuring * Authority-driven publishing * Recommendation visibility strategies * AI citation optimization * Conversational discoverability * Digital trust ecosystems Conclusion The study concludes that AI-search visibility is no longer a future consideration; it is rapidly becoming a competitive advantage. As consumer trust in AI-generated answers continues to grow, the brands that succeed may not necessarily be those that consumers search for most, but those that AI systems trust enough to recommend first.