AI search is rising: why it matters for your brand

For more than twenty years, searching meant the same thing: type a few words, scan a list of links, click the one that looks right. Today there is another way. A search can now start with an answer written by AI, with a handful of sources cited beside it, and the familiar list of links further down the page.

This is not a side trend for early adopters. Here is what the official figures and independent research say, and why it matters for any brand that wants to be found.

From a list of links to an answer

Classic search and AI search answer the same question in two different ways:

• Classic search ranks pages. The person compares the results and decides where to click. Visibility means ranking high and earning the click.
• AI search reads several sources and writes one answer, citing a few of them. Visibility means being named or cited inside that answer.

The two now live side by side. On Google, AI Overviews appear at the top of the results page, and AI Mode turns the whole search into a conversation. Outside the search engine, you can ask the same kind of question to assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

AI search is already mainstream

Google says AI Mode has passed 1 billion monthly active users since it expanded worldwide in October 2025¹. The Gemini app reports 950 million monthly active users¹.

AI search is not replacing search but adding to it: in April 2026 Google said search queries were at an all-time high, driven by AI². In July it added that AI Mode, like AI Overviews before it, increases the total number of searches¹.

Why it matters: the answer is the new first page

When an answer sits at the top, fewer people scroll down to the links. Pew Research Center measured this with the real browsing data of 900 adults in the United States, in March 2025³:

• 18% of their Google searches produced an AI summary³.
• When a summary appeared, people clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits; without one, they did so in 15% of visits³.
• Links inside the summary itself were clicked in 1% of visits³.
• People ended their browsing session after 26% of pages that showed an AI summary, versus 16% of pages showing classic results only³.

Google reads the change differently. It says total organic clicks from Search to websites have stayed relatively stable year over year, and that it now sends slightly more "quality clicks", meaning clicks where people do not quickly come back⁴. Google also says its AI features now send billions of clicks to websites every week¹.

The two views measure different things: Pew looks at how often a single visit leads to a click in one country, while Google speaks about total volume and click quality. One reading fits both: each search leads to fewer clicks, and the clicks that remain are more deliberate. For a brand, that makes the answer itself a place to be seen. If you are named in it, people meet your brand even when they never click. If you are missing, a competitor gets that moment.

What stays the same

The entry ticket has not changed. Google says there are no extra requirements or special optimizations needed to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode⁵. To be shown as a supporting link, a page has to be indexed and allowed to appear in Google Search with a snippet⁵. In other words, solid classic SEO is still the foundation.

What people click on is shifting, though: Google notes that people increasingly choose forums, videos, podcasts and posts where they hear first-hand perspectives⁴. Generic pages that repeat what everyone else says give an AI answer little reason to cite them.

How to prepare

• Check the basics. Make sure your key pages are indexed, can be shown with a snippet and load without technical errors.
• Answer real questions. Write pages that answer the questions your customers actually ask, clearly and in their language.
• Offer something first-hand. Your own experience, product details, comparisons and data are what make a page worth citing.
• Track the answers, not just rankings. Check regularly whether AI assistants mention your brand, how they describe it and which sources they cite.
• Measure what clicks bring. With fewer but more deliberate clicks, sign-ups and sales say more than raw traffic.

This is the gap OLAB Assist was built for: it checks your site's technical signals and tracks whether AI assistants mention your brand when they answer your customers' questions. You can start with a free analysis in a few minutes.

About the data

The Pew Research Center figures describe adults in the United States in March 2025. Google's figures are reported by the company itself. We will update this post when new official data is published.