AI hasn’t replaced search, but how brands earn visibility online is changing fast. Being left behind could be costly.
Roughly half of consumers now use AI-powered search tools in their discovery journey, according to McKinsey research. Instead of ranking links, these tools generate synthesized responses shaped by context, intent, and past behavior.
In the new “zero-click” experience, users get what they need directly from a search result, without visiting a brand’s website. A shopper might see a summarized comparison and recommendations in the AI response, then complete the purchase through a marketplace or retailer. As these experiences become more common, visibility is no longer determined by rank alone. A brand can be highly ranked and still be absent from the AI response that guides the customer’s decision.
With AI-driven responses guiding customer decisions, brands need to adjust how they define and pursue visibility. Here are a few tips to consider.
Merge Your SEO and GEO Strategies
SEO still matters, but it’s no longer the full picture. In an AI-driven environment, brands need to think in terms of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). The focus isn’t just ranking, but being referenced, summarized, and trusted by AI systems.
GEO points toward creating content that is clear, structured, and unambiguous. For brands, that means creating straightforward explanations, comparisons, and guidance that can be easily understood by both people and AI systems. GEO also underscores the importance of building authority beyond your own site through consistent brand mentions, POVs, and thought leadership from trusted industry voices, partners, and publications.
Build Your Organic Social Presence
Search and social are converging. AI systems increasingly learn from public social content, especially video, commentary, and first-person expertise. Organic social is no longer a “nice to have” line item—it’s a key part of helping AI models understand which products and brands are credible.
Measure Beyond Clicks
As we move closer to a zero-click world, traditional KPIs tell only part of the story. Brands should begin tracking:
Citations and mentions within AI summaries
Visibility in AI-driven answers
Engagement quality from AI-influenced traffic (time spent, downstream actions)
Brand lift and recall, even when clicks don’t occur
On social platforms, this same shift is already visible. AI-driven feeds prioritize watch time, saves, and meaningful comments over likes or follower count.
Pay Attention to Regulation and Platform Shifts
How AI models are trained, and whose content they rely on, is becoming both a regulatory and competitive issue. Publishers, platforms, and governments are grappling with questions such as:
Who benefits when content is summarized but not clicked?
How should brands and creators be credited or compensated?
What transparency is required in AI-driven recommendations?
The takeaway: brands shouldn’t treat these debates as abstract policy issues. Decisions made now will influence how visibility is earned, which platforms gain influence, and how much control brands retain over their content and presence.
Our Approach
We recognize that search behavior is changing faster than most marketing systems are designed to adapt. As AI increasingly mediates discovery, the challenge shifts from optimizing for isolated signals to understanding how machines interpret relevance, authority, and intent at scale. The focus moves from keyword-level tactics to concept-driven strategies, with content structured to be easier for AI systems to interpret, summarize, and trust. The goal isn’t to chase algorithms, but to build a durable presence as search, social, and AI continue to converge.
Evaluating Your AI Readiness
To help address this shift, Quigley-Simpson has developed an AI Readiness platform focused on understanding how brands appear in AI-driven search and content summarization environments. Unlike traditional SEO tools, it looks across a broader set of signals, including structured content, reviews, media coverage, and trust indicators, to assess how AI systems interpret and represent your brand. The result is a clearer picture of AI visibility and competitive positioning.
The Bottom Line
Discovery is moving from links to answers, and from rankings to interpretation. As AI systems play a larger role in how information is presented, brands need new ways to understand how they’re being represented. Quigley-Simpson’s AI Readiness platform helps make this shift more measurable, offering clarity into your AI visibility, competitive standing, and practical opportunities to improve how you show up in AI-driven search environments.
