How do brands show up in AI search? The question every brand should be asking now

If you’ve used ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini recently, you’ll know that people are no longer just searching the internet – they’re asking it questions.

This shift from “searching” to “questioning” is changing how people discover brands via LLMs. AI delivers a considered response, citing only a handful of brands as its sources.

For high-growth companies, that raises a crucial question: how do you make sure your brand is one that AI cites? This is where Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) comes in.

How is AI search different and what does it mean for brand visibility?

AI search hasn’t completely reformed brand discovery. B2B tech buyers are still heavily using web search (54%) and independent media sources (48%) to identify solutions and inform their shortlists.[1]

And for those brands that have already been investing in PR and SEO, you’ve got a head start. You still need extensive third-party citations, consumable content, and a well-structured and performing website.

But AI search adds a new layer. These signals can no longer be managed separately. It considers brands wider online presence to decide whether to trust you and include you in its answers.

Generative engines look for signals that a brand is:

• Clear and easy to understand
• Credible and verifiable
• Consistent across the places it appears
• Contributing something useful, not just generic noise

What can you do to improve your brand’s AI search presence?

GEO is not about rewriting your entire strategy. It’s about refining what you already do and bringing previously disparate marketing activations together, so AI can recognise your brand quickly and confidently. Ask yourself:

1. Are we consistent in our messaging? If your company or product descriptions look different across your website, LinkedIn, or media coverage, AI engines get confused, and they won’t cite you. It’s not about cramming keywords, but consistency is critical to appear in AI search results
2. Are our authority signals strong? Press mentions (which still drive 89% of AI citations[1]), awards, profiles, Reddit, analyst reports – these are all ground data that AI engines use to determine whether your brand is reputable
3. Are we publishing content that answers real questions? AI mirrors how people ask questions. That means developing AI-ready content with question-led headings, short explanations, and conversational phrasing that will help your content be understood and surfaced
4. Are we offering something original? If your insights sound replaceable, they will be. Brands that share proprietary data, customer case studies, or opinionated points of view stand out because they’re contributing information no one else can
5. Are we keeping our content current? AI doesn’t like stale information. You don’t need to rewrite everything, but make sure key stats, claims and positioning reflect what’s true today. Consider updating these every few months to improve the chance of key content being cited

AI search is changing how audiences discover information and which brands earn authority in the process. GEO helps businesses show up in these new environments.

Brands that make themselves easy for AI to understand – and worth citing – will be the ones people see first and trust first. These principles sit at the heart of The Flywheelers’ AI Visibility Flywheel, a structured framework that explains how visibility is built in AI environments.

If you’re looking to future-proof your brand’s visibility in AI-driven search, get in touch to find out more: [email protected]