Now Reading: To Unlock the Full Value of AI Search, Invest in Brand Mentions
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To Unlock the Full Value of AI Search, Invest in Brand Mentions
AI Search has arrived, with the transformative potential to amplify your brand authority and shift how customers discover businesses and make purchasing decisions. While many organisations understand the necessity of traditional SEO and keyword authority to maximise the chance of being shown in search, far fewer are aware of the growing influence of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and large language models (LLMs). As answer-driven results reshape the search landscape, visibility is no longer about SERP ranks alone – it is about being selected as the answer to search queries.
A recent study by Innovating With AI, cited by Search Engine Journal (SEJ), found that 83% of consumers believe that AI-powered tools are more efficient than traditional search. Users are increasingly viewing AI as reducing the effort required in complex research, enabling faster, more structured, and higher-confidence decision-making (NIM).
At scale, marketers and business leaders must rethink their approach to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). High-performing organisations are no longer asking, “How to rank number one?”, but rather “How do we become the top answer?” As a result, SEO strategies are evolving toward securing brand mention – particularly within earned, third-party, authoritative sources. Early findings suggest AI search experiences place greater trust in earned media than in brand-owned content alone.
AI search is also compressing the classic journey from “many searches across many tabs” into a single conversational session that delivers a short, ranked set of options with clear trade-offs.
The Compression of the Customer Journey
A defining trend in search behaviour is the rapid compression of the customer journey. As AI tools continue to be refined and more capable, users are increasingly relying on them to answer questions, evaluate options, and make informed purchasing decisions.
AI adoption in commerce is deepening. According to Capgemini, 68 per cent of global consumers are now willing to act on AI-generated product recommendations. That means buyers are leaning on AI Search tools to consolidate multiple searches and touchpoints into a single high-confidence interaction. AI is no longer just a research assistant, but an active decision-maker.
Why Brand Mentions Matter in the AI “Answer Economy” for SEO
Many marketers and SEO practitioners continue to focus primarily on backlink acquisition as the foundation of visibility. While links remain valuable, AI-driven search systems require a broader set of trust signals. For an AI engine to confidently recommend a brand, it must perceive that recommendation as delivering the best possible user outcome.
Brand mentions, with or without links, are becoming a critical signal of authority, relevance, and credibility. They increase exposure not only among prospective customers but also within the data environments AI systems draw from to generate responses. Over time, consistent mentions across credible sources help distinguish brands from competitors in AI-mediated search results.
To effectively integrate brand mentions into SEO and marketing strategies, organisations must first understand how LLMs source and evaluate information. A case study conducted by Overdrive, comparing both a pet supply brand and a sports car manufacturer, found that AI models prioritise “unbiased” third-party sites over branded media for informational queries. In these instances, this left branded sites excluded from AI-generated answers entirely.
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Building a Mention-Driven Strategy in the Age of GEO
While AI systems tend to favour third-party sources for informational queries, brand-owned content still plays a crucial role. Overdrive’s research showed that brand-owned content was more likely to appear for transactional queries such as “where to buy,” queries, price comparisons, and product availability. However, even when third-party sites sourced their information directly from manufacturers, AI models attributed authority to the intermediary, and not the original brand.
This reinforces the need for a deliberate, multi-channel approach to earning mentions.
Developing Case Studies. Publishing case studies and unique perspectives, whether for brand-owned or third-party websites, generates brand mentions and positions those pages as authoritative “source material” for search engines. These assets build trust with both customers and AI systems by offering credible, novel information. High-quality research can also be pitched and picked up by industry publications, increasing the likelihood of secondary mentions. Amplification through social platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram further extends reach and discoverability.
Building informational microsites and content hubs. Microsites and content hubs can provide focused, non-commercial environments optimised for LLM citation. While resource-intensive, they can compete more effectively with third-party publishers for AI visibility. Patagonia’s ‘Blue Heart of Europe’ campaign is a prime example. By creating an authoritative content hub focused on environmental advocacy, Patagonia generates extensive earned media, strengthens its authority, and drives qualified traffic back to its e-commerce ecosystem without overtly selling.
Earning Brand Mentions on Podcasts and Industry Blogs. Historically, backlinks were the dominant currency of SEO. In the era of AI-search, brand mentions are increasingly reinforcing authority at both the brand and individual expert level.
Whether it’s a mention of your brand in a podcast interview or a collaborative co-authored article, these brand mentions expose you to new audiences while strengthening the credibility signals used by AI systems.
A Long-Term Imperative
Adopting a brand-mention strategy is not a switch that can be flipped overnight. It requires sustained investment across multiple channels and media types. However, as consumer behaviour continues to shift toward AI-mediated discovery, organisations that do the foundational work early will be far better positioned to remain visible, credible, and competitive in the future.
In the AI era, visibility is no longer about who ranks highest; it is about who is trusted enough to be chosen.
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