Businesses shift marketing focus to AI visibility for recommendations

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Businesses globally are now focusing on achieving AI visibility to secure recommendations from platforms such as Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT, marking a significant shift in local marketing strategies.

This emerging frontier bypasses traditional search result pages, as AI platforms directly synthesize answers and suggest businesses to users, according to analysis by Reviewly.ai.

Google’s AI Overviews currently reach more than 2.5 billion users monthly, while ChatGPT surpassed 1 billion weekly active users in 2026, with a substantial portion of these users seeking local recommendations, Reviewly.ai reported.

The early stages of local AI answers present a key opportunity for businesses to establish strong review signals, ensure consistent citations, and build entity authority.

Achieving AI visibility involves two primary objectives: ensuring AI platforms recognize the business exists and prompting them to recommend the business by name.

Five critical factors influence AI recommendations, including the volume, recency, and sentiment of customer reviews, the completeness of a Google Business Profile, and consistent Name, Address, Phone (NAP) information across online listings.

Additionally, a business’s website serves as entity corroboration, and third-party mentions or authority from platforms like Yelp and Facebook also contribute to AI recommendations, according to Reviewly.ai.

Businesses should regularly audit their current AI presence by checking ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for recommendations within their specific category and city.

Verifying the accuracy of information about their own business on these AI platforms is also an important step, Reviewly.ai stated.

Reviews are considered the most significant signal for local intent, underscoring their importance in building AI trust and securing recommendations.

This transition requires businesses to adapt their digital marketing efforts from traditional search engine optimization (SEO) to strategies focused on AI integration.

Source: Search Engine Journal