---
source_url: "https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2026/04/27/search-has-shifted-to-generative-ai-is-it-recommending-your-brand/"
title: "Search Has Shifted To Generative AI—Is It Recommending Your Brand?"
mirrored_at: 2026-08-31T01:01:42.620Z
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> **Original source:** https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2026/04/27/search-has-shifted-to-generative-ai-is-it-recommending-your-brand/

_Joshua George is the founder of_ [_ClickSlice_](https://www.clickslice.co.uk/)_, an e-commerce search-first agency and the UK Agency Awards' 2025 small SEO agency of the year._

![ ](https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/69eba287c0346aac60793c5c//0x0.jpg?width=960)

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When I started my SEO agency in 2016, I built it around one core belief: Your customers need to be able to find you. I’d explain it to prospective clients repeatedly: There's no use in having high-quality products or great reviews if your business ranks on page 11 of the search results.​

For nearly a decade, getting to the top of Google was simple. It wasn’t quick, and there weren’t any shortcuts, but a combined approach of technical fixes, authority signaling and strong backlinks could reliably transform a brand’s visibility.​

But as search engines are now embracing generative AI for search queries, the search landscape has fundamentally changed. We’re now witnessing what I refer to as the “AI visibility land grab,” with one thing being certain: The businesses that'll dominate in 2026 will be those that aren’t afraid to adapt to this changing reality. ​

At my agency, we saw the change coming. We​ were one of the first e-commerce agencies in the U.K. to offer answer engine optimization (AEO), launching our first services in early 2025. Almost a year later, our clients are already reaping the rewards.

## AI Has Changed How People Search

The scale of the AI shift is already measurable. The Pew Research Center [analyzed browsing data](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/) from 900 U.S. adults across 68,879 Google searches and found that users who encountered an AI summary clicked on a traditional search result only 8% of the time. Those who did not see an AI summary clicked on a search result 15% of the time.

According to a Seer Interactive study, AI Overviews can cause organic click-through rates to fall by up to [61%](https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-september-2025-update).

The AI search shift isn't confined to Google: ChatGPT now has [900 million](https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/chatgpt-reaches-900m-weekly-active-users/) weekly active users. [Thirty-five percent](https://www.similarweb.com/blog/marketing/geo/ai-visibility-gaps/) of U.S. consumers now start their product discovery process with an AI tool.​

## So, What Is AEO?

In order to understand what AEO is, it’s first important to understand what it isn’t—and it’s _not_ a replacement for traditional search engine optimization (SEO). ​

In simple terms, AEO is the practice of making sure your brand shows up when someone asks an AI tool a question about your industry, your products or your services.​ When a potential customer asks ChatGPT, "What's the best standing desk under $500?" or “Where can I buy 100% organic cotton pajamas?” AEO is what determines whether your brand gets mentioned in that answer or your competitors get mentioned instead.

## Why AI Gets Your Brand Wrong

If you’re a business owner reading this, you might think, "Well, we’ve got good content, our backlinks are strong and our site works fine. Plus we’re a trusted brand—why aren’t we getting cited by AI tools?" ​

In some cases, you actually are being cited by them. But people still aren’t opting for your brand.

This is largely because AI models are frustratingly objective. For example, imagine you own a furniture shop with 1,000 Google reviews, 98% of which are glowing. If even 10 reviews mention slow shipping, AI models may surface those complaints when a customer asks about your brand.

This is where AI optimization can function as a form of PR for your brand. ​AI tools can track what's known as brand sentiment, or how your business is perceived across the web. This includes the pain points, the praise, the reasons people convert and the reasons they don't. When you have access to that data, you can act on it. If sentiment around your shipping times is negative, you can produce content that addresses it head-on. You can share information about your dispatch times and your delivery guarantee, for example. In short, you can give AI something more complete and accurate to work with.

## What Makes AI Trust Your Brand?

AI models are researchers, not consumers. They’re also not search engines; their job isn’t to scan for keywords, but rather to [look for recent, trustworthy sources](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637528.3671900) for information that they can present to users.​

Since my agency implemented our own AEO strategy, we’ve found that large language models (LLMs) respond most positively to:​

• **Trust Signals:** This is why you can’t forget your overall SEO strategy. AI models can read every single article written by and about your business in seconds. You’re more likely to be referenced if you have quality backlinks, press releases and forum mentions.​

• **Technical Accessibility:** This is again basic SEO, but it's fundamental for AI visibility. Your website needs to be technically sound and easy for AI crawlers to access.​

• **Topical Authority And Depth:** Content is still king in 2026, but you need to cover broader topics, not just include simple keywords. Again, AEO isn’t about keywords at all. We might orient a strategy based on certain queries, but AI optimization is more structural.

• **Structured Content And Data:** We’ve found that content cited by AI will include things like clear headings, FAQ sections and schema markup. The easier it is for AI to extract and understand information, the more confidently it'll use it.

## SEO Is Still As Important As Ever

SEO hasn't become irrelevant in 2026. It's simply evolved to meet the changing nature of online search. The fundamentals that once got you to page one of Google are now the same fundamentals that get you cited in an AI response. Strong content, technical health, authority signals and backlinks still matter enormously; they just serve multiple end goals.​​

So, if you're only optimizing for AI or SEO in isolation, you're likely settling for half of the visibility you could have. But you can bet your competitors are doing both.

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