Just when you think content marketing couldn't get messy enough, AI gets thrown into the mix. You're not only competing with others for search engine rankings, but you're also now competing for AI visibility. What's that? It's whether your content and brand are cited in tools or interfaces, such as Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT.
AI visibility means your content is included, cited, and recommended in AI-generated answers. If you think ranking at the top of the SERPs is still the way to go, think bigger. AI has become a primary factor in online search strategy. If AI systems can't read your brand, you could become invisible. Below, I share how AI visibility differs from SEO and five strategies to make your brand AI-visible.
Search used to be simple: a question, a page of blue links and a fight to win the click. Brand discovery was essentially a story about rankings, keywords and referral traffic. That's no longer how people find answers. As AI assistants and generative search become the first place people turn to for information, many buyers are getting what they need before they ever reach a website.
More and more, beauty brands need to measure their AI visibility, including how often they're recommended on AI platforms. One of the biggest challenges for brands remains how to improve AI visibility when it typically takes brands three to six months to change their content online and another three to six months of AI training update to see any real impact.
For almost 20 years, Google's search engine has been the go-to source for researching anything. But with the rise of generative AI, its stronghold is slipping. Consumers are increasingly turning to AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity when they have questions. According to a 2024 Ignite Visibility study, 62% of people now use ChatGPT or Google Gemini to explore products and services, showing that AI answers are quickly becoming the starting point for decisions.
Google Search Console reporting seems off since last week. Plus, third party Google tracking tools reporting is mostly broken since the Google 100 search results parameter going away. Google did not add AI Overview tracking in Search Console, that was fake news. Structured data does not help with AI visibility, not yet at least. FTC is investigating Google over ad pricing and terms.