There’s an old search engine joke that the best place to hide a dead body is page two of Google search results.
When search engines are the primary mode of finding information, brands do everything they can to be on the first page. That includes SEO tactics to become one of the ten blue links as well as sponsored ads based on buying keywords.
But as “search” shifts to “ask”, AI responses blow up that playbook. A typical AI response might mention only three brands, one brand, or no brand at all. And if a brand isn’t mentioned in AI responses, it’s increasingly invisible.
What’s more, what gets noticed by search engines is radically different than what gets noticed by generative engines. SEO (search engine optimization) will operate differently than GEO (generative engine optimization).
Brent Nelson, Chief Strategy Officer at Edelman, wrote about some of this shift in Ad Age recently:
“What drives visibility isn’t your ad budget or keyword bids; it’s earned media. Analysis shows that 90% of what appears in AI summaries is “earned-driven”—pulled from reviews, press, blogs, forums and cultural chatter. Paid now plays a different role, amplifying what’s already there…
“The new shelf space isn’t a store; it’s the AI summary. Brands need to understand their earned footprint across AI-generated answers. Who gets cited? Who’s trusted? Who’s missing? That’s the new baseline of visibility.”
Earned media is not the same type of level for marketers to pull. It will be interesting to see how this evolves in 2026.
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
