AEO and GEO: The Future of Brand Discovery by AI in 2026

The Impact of AI Summaries on Search Behavior

In March 2025, the Pew Research Center conducted an in-depth study of 68,879 Google searches. The results revealed a significant change in user behavior in response to AI-generated summaries. When an AI summary was presented, only 8% of users clicked on a traditional result. In comparison, the absence of an AI summary prompted 15% of users to click. Furthermore, one in four users exposed to these AI summaries left the session without clicking on any links.

This trend highlights a major transformation in how users discover brands. With generative AI platforms like ChatGPT recording 5.72 billion monthly visits (data from SimilarWeb, January 2026), it becomes crucial for brands to understand and optimize their content for these new search methods. The framework proposed by SimilarWeb for AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) provides an essential distinction between these approaches, a vital knowledge for staying ahead of the competition.

A Worrying Decline in Clicks Despite Increased Searches

Despite an increase in searches, users are clicking less and less. In May 2025, BrightEdge reported a 49% rise in Google search impressions following the introduction of AI Previews. However, clicks dropped by nearly 30% during the same period. An analysis by Seer Interactive in September 2025, covering 25.1 million organic impressions across 42 organizations, revealed an even more pronounced decline for queries with AI Previews:

• The organic CTR decreased by 61%, from 1.76% to 0.61%.
• The paid CTR fell by 68%, from 19.7% to 6.34%.
• Even queries without AI Previews saw their organic CTR drop by 41% year-over-year.

In March 2025, one in five Google searches generated an AI summary, according to the Pew Research Center. While the 25% predicted decline in traditional search volume by 2026, as forecasted by Gartner in early 2024, is subject to debate, the trend is clear: impressions are increasing while engagement is decreasing. The answer itself is becoming the destination, and only brands present in these answers stand out.

The Importance of AEO and GEO in Brand Strategy

The distinction between AEO and GEO is crucial for understanding how brands can be cited by machines.

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) aims to structure content so that AI systems can extract clear and direct answers. This includes the use of rich snippets, "People also asked" boxes, and results for voice assistants. Strategies include question-based titles, introductory paragraphs of 40 to 80 words, and the use of FAQ and HowTo schema markup. If your content provides the clearest answer to a specific question, AEO allows you to be cited in snippets.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), on the other hand, operates at a broader level. It involves positioning your brand as a reliable source for RAG-powered platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) that synthesize answers from multiple sources. GEO requires clusters of semantic content, rich entity data, multimodal assets, and building domain authority through co-citations on third-party sites, directories, and publications.

A survey conducted by McKinsey in August 2025, involving 1,927 consumers, revealed that a brand's website accounts for only 5 to 10% of the sources referenced by AI search platforms. The remaining 90% comes from publishers, user-generated content, affiliate sites, and review platforms. Thus, even with impeccable AEO on Google, your GEO presence may remain weak on the web.

BrightEdge found that 89% of AI Preview citations come from results ranked beyond position 100. Traditional ranking position is becoming less relevant than content structure and authority signals.

Cited Brands Dominate the Market

The benefits of citations in AI Previews are undeniable. The Seer Interactive study showed that brands cited in these summaries enjoy 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks compared to those excluded.

Investing in these strategies is increasingly justified. According to research by Conductor reported by MarTech in February 2026, 32% of digital marketing leaders now consider GEO their top priority for the year, and 97% report positive results from their efforts. On average, 12% of digital budgets for 2025 have been allocated to GEO initiatives. Notably, 93% of executives are developing these capabilities in-house, deeming AI search visibility too strategic to outsource.

High-maturity organizations are already spending nearly twice as much on GEO as their less advanced counterparts. This gap will be hard to close once default answers are established.

With 44% of consumers already preferring AI-powered search as their primary source of information (McKinsey), if your brand does not appear in these AI-generated answers, what is your position in the buying process?

A New Era for Brand Discovery

Although AEO and GEO are distinct in their mechanisms, they share a common goal: to make your brand a reference for AI systems. The starting point is simple: audit your current AI visibility by asking the major platforms the questions your customers are asking. Identify where you are visible, where you are not, and which sources are cited in your place. Then, integrate AEO (structured answers, schema, question-oriented content) and GEO (semantic depth, third-party co-citations, multimodal assets) into your existing SEO foundations.

The stakes are rising. As generative AI evolves into systems capable of acting on behalf of users (booking, purchasing, recommending), the brands cited by AI will be the ones chosen by AI. If your content strategy still focuses solely on clicks, what will happen when the click becomes optional?