Fresh data from multiple studies confirms what our team has been telling clients for months: generative AI is reshaping how brands get discovered, recommended, and chosen. The landscape is moving fast — from ChatGPT’s topic-level brand mentions to Google’s AI Overviews creeping into commercial search queries — and the majority of businesses have no strategy in place. Here’s what the latest research means and what we’re doing about it right now.

Key Takeaways

• Most ChatGPT topics still have no dominant brand, creating a massive first-mover opportunity for businesses that act now.
• AI share of voice is now a measurable metric, giving agencies and brands a concrete way to track generative search performance.
• Local businesses face a distinct set of AI optimisation challenges, but structured data and review signals are proving decisive.
• Google’s AI Overviews are expanding aggressively into commercial intent searches, threatening both organic clicks and paid ad visibility.
• AI-powered content pipelines are maturing quickly, with teams already rebuilding editorial workflows inside tools like Claude Code.

ChatGPT’s Brand Landscape Is Wide Open — For Now

A study of 50,000 brands in ChatGPT found that the vast majority of conversational AI topics have no dominant brand attached to them. That’s a striking gap. It means businesses that invest in topical authority content, structured knowledge, and consistent entity signals now can claim territory before competitors even realise there’s ground to fight over.

Our team treats this as a direct brief: we’re auditing every client’s core topics against ChatGPT outputs, identifying where they’re absent, and building content strategies designed to fill those gaps. The window won’t stay open forever.

Measuring AI Share of Voice Is No Longer Optional

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. That’s why the ability to measure AI share of voice using Semrush matters so much for our workflow. We now track how often a client’s brand appears in AI-generated answers relative to competitors — across ChatGPT, Gemini, and other platforms.

This metric sits alongside traditional organic visibility in our monthly reporting. It gives clients a clear picture of whether their content is being surfaced by AI models, and it gives us a concrete KPI to optimise against. If your agency isn’t tracking this yet, you’re flying blind.

Local Businesses Need a Specific AI Search Strategy

AI search engines don’t recommend local businesses the same way Google’s local pack does. The signals are different. Detailed guidance on AI search optimisation for local businesses highlights how review volume, structured data, and consistent NAP information directly influence which business an AI model names in its response.

For our local clients — from tradespeople to multi-location service providers — we’re prioritising:

• Schema markup accuracy across every location page.
• Active review generation strategies on Google Business Profile and niche directories.
• Content that answers hyper-local questions AI models are likely to field.

The businesses that get recommended by AI assistants will capture demand before users ever reach a traditional search result.

AI Overviews Are Coming for Commercial Queries

Google’s AI Overviews started with informational queries. They’re not staying there. A study on AI Overviews expanding across commercial intent search shows these summaries now appear on queries with real advertising value — product comparisons, service evaluations, buying guides.

That has two immediate consequences. First, organic click-through rates on affected queries will drop further. Second, paid search visibility may be pushed below the fold. We’re adjusting client strategies accordingly: tightening on-page relevance signals, strengthening E-E-A-T indicators, and ensuring content is structured to earn citation within AI Overview panels rather than compete beneath them.

AI-Driven Content Pipelines Are Production-Ready

One team has already rebuilt their content update pipeline inside Claude Code, moving away from traditional automation tools. The results are instructive: faster iteration, fewer manual steps, and tighter integration between content auditing and publishing.

We’re testing similar approaches internally. The goal isn’t to replace editorial judgement — it’s to eliminate the bottlenecks around content refreshes, metadata updates, and performance-based prioritisation. Teams that adopt these workflows now will produce better content faster, at lower cost.

The generative AI layer of search is no longer experimental. It’s live, measurable, and already influencing which brands get chosen. Every week a business delays building its AI visibility strategy is a week competitors can use to establish dominance in a space that’s still remarkably uncrowded. Our advice is blunt: start now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AI share of voice and why does it matter for SEO?

AI share of voice measures how often your brand is mentioned or recommended in AI-generated search responses compared to competitors. It matters because an increasing share of user queries are answered directly by AI models, and brands that don’t appear in those answers lose visibility before a user ever clicks a link.

How do web designers optimise local business websites for AI search?

Focus on accurate schema markup, consistent name-address-phone data, and content that directly answers location-specific questions. Strong review profiles on Google Business Profile and relevant directories also carry significant weight in AI recommendation engines.

Why are Google AI Overviews a threat to commercial search traffic?

AI Overviews now appear on queries with clear buying intent, summarising product comparisons and service options above traditional organic results. This pushes both organic listings and paid ads further down the page, reducing click-through rates for businesses that haven’t optimised their content for AI citation.

How can brands get mentioned in ChatGPT responses?

Brands need to build genuine topical authority through comprehensive, well-structured content that AI models can confidently reference. Most ChatGPT topics currently have no dominant brand, so businesses that establish strong entity signals and authoritative content now have a clear first-mover advantage.