• Over 50% of consumers use AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to find products—and these systems recommend only 2-3 brands, not a list of options

• AI evaluates brands across five key dimensions: content authority, third-party validation, entity recognition, information freshness, and community signals

• ChatGPT mentions brands in 99% of product queries, while Google AI Overview cites brands in only 6% of responses

• Traditional SEO isn't enough—Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) focuses on how AI systems interpret, trust, and cite your brand across the entire web

• Most brands see measurable AI visibility improvements within 3-6 weeks of consistent GEO efforts

• The brands establishing AI visibility now gain compounding advantages that competitors can't easily replicate

The way brands get discovered is changing faster than most marketing teams realise. Over 50% of consumers now use tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to find products and services—and those AI systems don't show a list of options. They recommend the two or three brands they trust most.

If your brand isn't one of them, you're invisible to a growing share of your potential customers. This guide breaks down exactly how AI search engines evaluate brands, why some get recommended while others don't, and what you can do to show up in the answers that matter.

Why AI search changes how brands get discovered

AI search engines discover brands by analyzing massive datasets for authority, relevance, and trustworthiness. They move beyond simple keywords to understand semantic context, user intent, and brand signals from diverse sources like social media, reputable publishers, and user-generated content—not just your website.

That's a fundamental shift from how discovery worked for the past two decades. Traditional search gave users a list of links to evaluate. AI search gives them a direct answer, often with just two or three brand recommendations baked in.

Your brand either gets recommended, or it doesn't exist in that conversation.

McKinsey research shows that even market leaders aren't guaranteed visibility in AI-powered search. The brands that appear in AI recommendations aren't necessarily the biggest. They're the ones AI systems trust most based on signals across the web.

How AI search engines evaluate and select brands

When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity "what's the best project management tool for remote teams," the AI doesn't just match keywords. It evaluates brands across multiple dimensions simultaneously, pulling from sources far beyond your website.

Here's what AI systems weigh when deciding which brands to recommend:

• Content authority: Whether your content demonstrates genuine expertise on topics in your category

• Third-party validation: Mentions and reviews on trusted external sites like industry publications and review platforms

• Entity recognition: Whether AI understands your brand as a distinct entity with clear attributes

• Information freshness: How recently your content and mentions have been updated

• Community signals: User-generated content and authentic discussions about your brand

Content authority and source reputation

AI prioritises content that demonstrates deep expertise. Topical authority—a term that describes how comprehensively you cover the topics your brand wants to be known for—matters more than surface-level keyword targeting.

If you sell email marketing software, for instance, AI systems look for whether you've published substantive content about deliverability, list segmentation, automation workflows, and related topics. Thin content on any of those subjects signals you're not a category expert.

Brand mentions across trusted third-party sites

AI systems look beyond your owned content when forming recommendations. Mentions on industry publications, review sites, and authoritative domains signal credibility in ways your own website cannot.

You can't fully control your AI visibility by optimizing your own pages. You also need presence on the external sources AI models trust.

User-generated content and community signals

Reddit threads, forum discussions, and review platforms influence AI recommendations more than many brands realise. When real users discuss your product authentically, AI models weigh those conversations heavily.

BrightEdge research found that ChatGPT mentions brands in 99% of product-related queries. Where does it pull those brand names from? Often from the same community discussions and reviews that real buyers consult.

Structured data and entity recognition

Entity recognition is how AI understands your brand as a distinct "thing" with specific attributes—not just a collection of keywords. Structured data, also called schema markup, helps AI systems connect information about your brand across sources.

Without clear entity signals, AI might confuse your brand with competitors or generic terms. Consistent naming, descriptions, and attributes across all your web properties help AI build an accurate picture of what you offer.

Recency and freshness of information

AI models favor current information. Outdated content, especially on fast-moving topics, can cause your brand to be excluded from recommendations entirely.

If your last blog post is from 2022 and competitors are publishing weekly, AI systems may conclude your expertise isn't current.

How ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview cite brands differently

Each AI platform has distinct citation behaviors. Understanding the differences helps you prioritise where to focus.

ChatGPT citation patterns

ChatGPT draws from training data and increasingly from real-time retrieval through plugins and browsing. Brands with strong web presence and clear entity signals appear more often in responses.

The 99% brand mention rate in ChatGPT queries means there's significant opportunity here. But there's also significant competition for those recommendation slots.

Perplexity citation patterns

Perplexity retrieves and cites live sources, functioning more like a research assistant than a knowledge base. Your brand has to appear on pages Perplexity pulls from, meaning third-party visibility is essential.

If you're only optimizing your own website, you're missing the sources Perplexity actually references when making recommendations.

Google AI Overview citation patterns

Google's AI Overview pulls from its search index, so strong organic rankings still matter. However, the AI selects brands that directly answer the user's question in a format it can easily extract.

With only 6% of AI Overview responses citing brands directly, the bar for inclusion is high. Clear, structured content that answers specific questions performs best.

Why your brand might not appear in AI recommendations

Even strong brands can be invisible in AI search. Here are the most common visibility gaps.

Thin or outdated content on key topics

If your content doesn't comprehensively cover topics in your category, AI has nothing to cite. Surface-level content optimised for keywords but lacking depth gets skipped in favor of more authoritative sources.

Weak presence on third-party sites and reviews

Owning your website isn't enough. If your brand lacks mentions on external authoritative sources—industry publications, review platforms, community discussions—AI models have fewer signals to validate you.

Missing brand entity signals

If AI can't recognise your brand as a distinct entity, you won't be recommended. Brand name confusion, inconsistent descriptions across platforms, or lack of structured data all contribute to entity recognition problems.

Low topic authority in your category

Brands that haven't established expertise on specific topics lose to competitors who have. AI recommends the most authoritative source for a given question, not necessarily the most familiar brand name.

What generative engine optimisation means for AI brand visibility

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is the practice of optimizing for AI-driven search specifically. It's a new discipline distinct from traditional SEO, though the two share some foundations.

GEO focuses on how AI systems interpret, trust, and cite your brand. The goal is AI strategic visibility—being the brand AI recommends when users ask questions in your category.

How GEO differs from traditional SEO

While SEO skills transfer to GEO, the tactics and measurement differ significantly.

The control difference is particularly important. In SEO, you can directly influence your rankings through on-page optimisation. In GEO, you are influencing how an AI system perceives your brand across the entire web, which is a more complex challenge.

How to increase brand visibility in AI search

Here's a practical playbook for improving your AI visibility.

1. Audit your current AI visibility across platforms

Before optimizing, understand your baseline. Query ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview with prompts relevant to your category. Document where you appear and where you don't.

Try prompts like "What's the best [your category] for [use case]?" and "Top alternatives to [competitor]" to see if your brand appears. An AI brand visibility tool like LLMLAB can automate this process and track changes over time.

2. Identify topic and content gaps

Map the topics your brand wants to own. Identify where your content is thin or missing compared to competitors who are getting recommended.

Focus on topics where AI currently recommends others instead of you. Those represent your highest-priority opportunities.

3. Strengthen third-party mentions and citations

Build presence on industry publications, review sites, and authoritative domains. Earned media and strategic partnerships create the external signals AI systems trust.

Research from Princeton and Georgia Tech found that adding statistics to content boosts AI visibility by 30%, and quotations from experts by 20%. Both elements also make your content more likely to be cited by third parties.

4. Optimise content for entity recognition

Ensure your brand name, descriptions, and attributes are consistent across all sources. Use structured data (schema markup) to help AI systems understand your brand as a distinct entity.

5. Publish authoritative long-form content

Create comprehensive content that demonstrates expertise. AI models favor depth over thin, keyword-stuffed pages. Cover topics thoroughly with data, examples, and clear explanations.

6. Monitor and iterate based on AI traffic data

Track how AI platforms interact with your content over time. Real-time AI traffic monitoring reveals what AI crawlers are accessing and how often.

Book a demo to see how LLMLAB tracks AI visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other answer engines.

How to track AI brand visibility

Traditional analytics don't capture AI-driven discovery. Dedicated tools are required to measure visibility in answer engines.

AI visibility audits for baseline measurement

An audit shows where your brand currently appears—and doesn't—across AI platforms. That's your starting point for any GEO work. Craveo offers a free AI Visibility Audit that analyses your presence across major AI platforms.

Real-time AI traffic monitoring

Unlike traditional analytics, AI traffic monitoring tracks when and how answer engines crawl your content. This reveals AI-driven discovery activity specifically, not just human visitors.

Prompt-based tracking across answer engines

Track specific prompts relevant to your brand and category. See which brands get recommended for which queries. Prompt-based tracking is how you measure whether your GEO efforts are working.

The impact of AI search on digital marketing strategy

AI-driven search changes how marketing teams think about discovery and acquisition. Traditional SEO alone is no longer sufficient for capturing organic demand.

The impact on search engine optimisation is clear: organic discovery is fragmenting across multiple AI platforms. Marketing teams that add GEO as a channel—rather than treating it as an extension of SEO—will capture demand that competitors miss.

Brands that start measuring AI visibility now will win

The window to establish your brand in AI recommendations is open right now. But it won't stay open forever.

AI assistants won't suggest 50 brands. They'll recommend the top two or three. If you're not in that tier, you'll watch competitors capture the next generation of users while you're still optimizing for Google alone.

The brands investing in GEO today gain compounding advantages. They're shaping how AI understands their entire category—and that's a moat that's hard to replicate.

Ready to see where your brand stands? Book a demo to get your AI visibility audit and start tracking how answer engines talk about your brand.

FAQs about how AI search engines discover brands

How often do AI search engines update their knowledge about brands?

Update frequency varies by platform. ChatGPT's training data updates periodically while Perplexity retrieves information in real-time, and Google AI Overview reflects its current search index.

Can small businesses compete with large brands in AI search visibility?

Yes, because AI prioritises topical authority over brand sise. A small business with deep expertise on a specific topic can outrank a large brand with shallow coverage.

Does social media presence influence AI search recommendations?

Indirectly, yes. Social platforms generate user discussions and content that AI models may reference, and strong social presence can lead to mentions on other sites AI trusts.

How long does it take to improve AI search visibility for a brand?

Most brands see measurable changes within three to six weeks of consistent GEO efforts. Results depend on your starting visibility and the competitiveness of your category.

Are AI search recommendations personalised differently for each user?

Some personalisation occurs, but AI recommendations are largely consistent for similar queries. The key factor is how your brand appears across the sources AI systems reference.