Why being visible on Google, in the media and on social is no longer enough
Why being visible on Google, in the media and on social is no longer enough
A business can have strong media coverage, a healthy share of voice and good search visibility, and still be almost invisible when someone asks ChatGPT about its category.
That is starting to change what visibility means.
For years, businesses have focused on whether customers can find them on Google, whether they are being talked about in the media and whether they are showing up against competitors.
Those things still matter. But there is now another important question that businesses need to ask: When someone asks AI about our category, are we part of the answer?
And if we are, is what it says actually right?
Australians are adopting AI as a way to find information quickly. Kantar research released in August found 82 per cent of Australians had used an AI assistant in the previous six months and 78 per cent had used generative AI for search in the previous two months.
That doesn’t mean people believe everything AI tells them. They don’t.
But increasingly, they are using it to research, compare and narrow down choices before they visit a company website or contact a business.
It is still important to rank well on Google. It is still important to be covered by credible media, have good reviews and build a strong presence in your market. But businesses now need to understand what AI knows about them too.
Does it know what you do? Does it understand what makes you different? Does it associate your business with the areas you want to be known for? And when someone asks for recommendations in your category, do you appear at all?
There are already plenty of new acronyms around this shift: GEO, generative engine optimisation; AEO, answer engine optimisation; LLM optimisation.
They matter, but only as art of the picture.
But I think businesses risk missing the bigger point if they treat this as another SEO exercise.
