How AI Is Impacting Brand Visibility Online
Online visibility used to rely heavily on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), with the primary goal being to appear on the first page of Google.
While this remains a key objective for businesses, artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the game when it comes to online brand visibility. AI now plays a direct role in deciding which answers people see, often providing those answers without users needing to click a link.
The Emergence of Google AI Overviews
Google Search is no longer just a list of links. Increasingly, results are led by an AI overview – a short, useful summary that answers the user’s question upfront. It pulls from multiple websites and online sources, then packages the information into what it determines to be the most relevant response.
For users, this is convenient. They get an answer quickly, without having to visit each website individually (also known as zero-click outcomes). The question then becomes: if AI is doing the research on the user’s behalf, is your brand one that AI chooses to display?
Consider a search for “the best steakhouse near me”. The restaurants that appear in an AI-generated response are unlikely to be there by chance. AI looks for signals that indicate credibility and relevance, from customer reviews and location data to the consistency and quality of a brand’s online presence.
The implications are significant. You may genuinely serve the best steak in town, but if AI doesn’t recognise your business as a credible answer, you may not get the visibility, website traffic or the customer visit.