AI search is no longer an experimental tool for consumers. Daily AI search users in the US rose from 14% in February 2025 to 29.2% in August 2025, according to a HigherVisibility report.
While not all consumers explicitly turn to AI for search, Google’s prioritization of zero-click, AI-generated responses has cornered many into it. Instead of sifting through multiple pages, they trust concise summaries to make decisions quickly.
“AI Overviews and Google Zero pushed us into a world where the search result is now the answer itself,” said Kaare Wesnaes, head of innovation for Ogilvy North America. “If a brand isn’t mentioned or cited in that instant, it effectively doesn’t exist.”
This expedited process means marketers have a shorter window to stand out. When search solutions mature, marketers’ approach must evolve. To survive these changes, they are adopting generative engine optimization (GEO) rules and repositioning search as an integrated marketing function.
“The fight isn’t for position one anymore,” said Rita Steinberg, vice president of media at FUSE Create. “It’s for contextual inclusion inside the model’s response.”
GEO deemphasizes keywords and ranking systems that define SEO. Marketers must invest in high-quality, differentiated, and easily digestible content that gives AI confidence to recommend their brand.
“If [a brand’s content] is fragmented, inconsistent, or thin, the model’s understanding becomes brittle, and that’s when brands simply disappear from AI-driven journeys,” said Francisco Vigo, CEO and cofounder of geoSurge. “That brittleness is what causes the sudden ‘visibility shocks’ that marketers have been misdiagnosing as hallucinations.”
Google search clickthrough rate decreased for both paid (3.6 points) and organic (1.2 points) from October 2024 to September 2025 even when the AI overview is absent, according to Seer Interactive data. This means consumers demand search efficiency, a shift bigger than AI itself.
“These platforms can compress the entire funnel into one interaction where you can go from discovery to purchase in hours instead of days,” said Amos Ductan, SVP of search at Razorfish.
While AI simplifies consumer searches, it convolutes their purchase path, making the marketer’s job more complex.
Consumers aren’t using a single tool for their searches. Instead, “Google handles the transactions, and Chat[GPT] handles the thought,” said Mark Himmelsbach, CEO and founding partner at RYA.
“Google is the place you go when you already know what you want. Chat is the place you go when you don’t,” he said. “In 2026, that gap widens.”
GEO prioritizes content strategy over siloed keyword mechanics, allowing search to become a more integrated marketing function. In 2026, “search is up for grabs” for marketers across departments, and there is also more room for experimentation, said Julie Towns, VP of product marketing and product operations at Pinterest.
“Instead of a monolithic ‘search’ line, the best marketers will design for different search entry points… text, visual, conversational, assistant‑driven,” she said, “and choose partners based on the types of decisions people are making.”
As search expands beyond a single ranking system and into multiple formats, marketers can’t lose sight of the verified human content that retains consumer trust.
“User reviews, community engagement, industry influencers, strong social followings, and earned media coverage become critical,” said Don Jeter, CMO of Torq. “These signals tell both people and machines that your brand is credible, trusted, and chosen by real users.”
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