Last update: 7 February 2026

Ask ChatGPT | Perplexity | Claude | AI Mode | Grok to summarise this (long-ish but for a good reason) guide.

Your competitor just got recommended by ChatGPT, and you didn't, even though you're in the same industry and you offer similar services. But when someone asks, "What is the best accounting software in Europe?", their brand name appears in the answer, and yours doesn't.

That's not bad luck. That's bad optimisation.

AI brand visibility isn't about traffic anymore; it's about whether AI platforms know you exist, trust what you say, and recommend you when it matters.

Fun stat: the AI search market was valued at $43.6B in 2024 and is projected to capture 62.2% of total search volume by 2030.

If you're not visible in these AI-generated answers, you're losing clients before they even know you're an option.

This guide is about fixing that. Not with keyword tricks or link schemes, but by understanding exactly how AI platforms decide which brands to cite and positioning yourself as the obvious choice.

What AI brand visibility actually means (and why it's not the same as SEO)

Right, first things first: AI brand visibility is not "SEO for ChatGPT."

Traditional SEO visibility focuses on ranking on the highly-coveted first page for keywords like "branding agency Dubai." Someone sees your brand, clicks through to your website. You get traffic.

Now with AI brand visibility, things go like this: Someone asks ChatGPT, "What are the best branding agencies in Dubai?" and your brand appears in the answer itself. They never see a search results page. Instead, the user gets a curated list, and you're either on it or you're not.

So, the main difference is that with SEO, you're competing for position 1-10. With AI visibility, you're competing to exist at all.

AI platforms don't show ten options. They show 2-5 recommendations, so if you're not in that shortlist, you're invisible.

Here's a real-life example I just pulled from my ChatGPT searches:

Query: "What are the most exciting things happening in Madrid this weekend? It needs to be kid-friendly, during the day and not outside the city centre. "

AI response:

"Here are the strongest bets right now for a daytime, kid-friendly, city-centre-ish weekend in Madrid, based on the latest agenda listings and current February programming:

1. Planetario Madrid (with link to the place)

Why go: Easy win with kids. Educational but disguised as fun (the best kind of learning).

What’s on:

• El cielo de Cloe → aimed at younger kids

• 3-2-1 ¡Despegamos! → space story with a hamster engineer (yes, really)

• Polaris → penguin + polar bear adventure

These run in late morning to early afternoon, perfect for daytime planning."

That's just the first one; I got 5 recommendations.

See what happened there? These events aren't just mentioned, they're rich with specific context. That's visibility.

The three levels of AI visibility:

Level 1: Mentioned

Your brand name appears in AI responses, but with minimal context, so just"Planetario Madrid".

Level 2: Described

Your brand appears with specific positioning or differentiators.

"What’s on… These run in late morning to early afternoon, perfect for daytime planning."

Level 3: Recommended

AI platforms actively suggest you as the best option for specific use cases.

"Why go: Easy win with kids. Educational but disguised as fun (the best kind of learning)."

Most brands never get past Level 1. Your goal is Level 3.

The 3 pillars of AI visibility: Presence, Authority, Quotability

AI platforms decide who to cite based on three factors. Nail all three, and you dominate AI visibility.

Pillar 1: Presence (Do you exist in places AI can find you?)

AI doesn't just search your website. It searches everywhere:

• Your website (obviously)

• LinkedIn (company page, founder profiles, employee posts)

• Press coverage (Gulf News, TechCrunch)

• Industry publications (Communicate, Campaign Middle East)

• Review sites (Google Business, G2)

• Public platforms (Medium, Quora, Reddit)

• Social media (Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok)

• Podcasts and video content (YouTube, etc.)

If you only exist on your website, you're a ghost to AI.

How to build presence:

1. Claim and optimise every profile:

• Google Business Profile (with regular posts)

• LinkedIn company page (weekly updates minimum)

• G2, etc. listing

• Industry directories

2. Get featured in third-party publications:

• Pitch guest articles to industry blogs

• Get quoted in press articles

• Contribute expert commentary

• Speak at events and get coverage

3. Publish on public platforms:

• LinkedIn articles (not just posts)

• Medium for broader reach

• Quora answers (if your audience is there)

4. Build social proof:

• Google reviews (encourage clients to leave them)

• Case studies on your site

• Client testimonials (video is powerful)

• Portfolio work with results

AI cross-references. The more places it finds credible information about you, the more it trusts you.

Pillar 2: Authority (Does AI trust what you say?)

Presence gets you noticed. Authority gets you recommended.

AI platforms evaluate authority through E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). But they take it further than Google ever did.

What AI looks for:

Experience: Do you demonstrate first-hand knowledge?

• Case studies with real results

• Behind-the-scenes content

• "We did this and here's what happened" stories

• Original images (your team, your work, not stock photos)

Expertise: Do you have deep knowledge?

• Comprehensive guides (3,000+ words)

• Topic clusters (multiple interconnected articles on one subject)

• Technical depth (not surface-level advice)

• Consistent point of view

Authoritativeness: Are you recognised in your industry?

• Press mentions and media coverage

• Industry awards and certifications

• Speaking engagements

• Professional affiliations

Trustworthiness: Can AI verify your claims?

• Author credentials on every article

• Transparent information (no vague claims)

• Third-party validation

• Consistent messaging across platforms

The authority test:

Ask ChatGPT: "What do you know about [your brand]?"

If it says "I don't have specific information," you have an authority problem.

If it gives you generic information, you're building authority, but not there yet.

If it describes your specific positioning, services, and differentiators? You've got authority.

How to build authority:

1. Create comprehensive pillar content:

Not 500-word blog posts. 3,000-5,000-word guides that cover topics exhaustively, like "The Complete Guide to [topic] for [audience]".

2. Build topic clusters:

Don't just write one article on your speciality. Create 10-15 interconnected pieces that cover every angle. This signals to AI: "These people are THE experts on this topic."

Learn how to build topic clusters →

3. Add author credentials everywhere:

Every piece of content needs:

• Author name

• Professional credentials

• Years of experience

• Link to author profile

No more "Admin" or "Marketing Team" bylines.

4. Get third-party validation:

• Pitch guest articles to industry publications

• Get featured in the press

• Build reviews on Google and G2

• Speak at conferences

AI trusts you more when others vouch for you.

Pillar 3: Quotability (Is your content worth citing?)

You can have presence and authority, but if your content isn't quotable, AI won't cite it.

What makes content quotable:

1. Clear, confident statements

AI loves extractable answer blocks, so concise statements that stand alone.

Not quotable:

"There are many factors to consider when developing a brand strategy, and it's important to think about your target audience and competitive landscape."

Quotable:

"Brand strategy without audience research is just guessing. You're building what you think people want instead of what they're actually asking for."

2. Specific insights, not generic advice

Not quotable:

"Content marketing is important for brand awareness."

Quotable:

"B2B brands that publish comprehensive guides (3,000+ words) get cited in AI responses 3.2x more often than those publishing short blog posts. Depth beats frequency."

3. Natural, conversational language

AI is trained on human conversation. Corporate jargon gets ignored.

Not quotable:

"Our comprehensive suite of solutions leverages cutting-edge technology to deliver best-in-class results."

Quotable:

"We help brands show up when their next client asks ChatGPT for recommendations. No template-like strategies, but a highly curated content plan that AI platforms want to cite."

4. Structured, extractable content

AI evaluates content in passages. Your content needs to be modular.

How to structure for quotability:

• Clear H2 and H3 headings

• Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences)

• Bullet points and numbered lists

• Comparison tables

• FAQ sections with direct questions and answers

Each section should make sense on its own.

5. Data and examples

AI can't verify vague claims, but it can quote specific data and examples.

Not quotable:

"Our clients see great results."

Quotable:

"We worked with an Italian tech startup that went from a messy Excel sheet they used for lead management to having a pipeline with the exact status of each lead and account."

Learn how to write quotable content with brand voice →

How AI platforms decide which brands to cite

Right, now that you understand the three pillars, here's how AI actually makes citation decisions.

The AI citation algorithm (simplified)

Step 1: Query understanding

Someone asks: "Best GEO agency in Dubai for cultural brands"

AI breaks this into sub-questions:

• What makes a GEO agency good?

• Which GEO agencies operate in Dubai?

• Which specialise in cultural brands?

• What do clients say about them?

• What results have they achieved?

Step 2: Source evaluation

AI searches for content that answers these questions. It evaluates sources based on:

• Relevance: Does this content actually answer the question?

• Authority: Is this source credible?

• Recency: Is this information current?

• Depth: Does this provide comprehensive information or surface-level fluff?

Step 3: Cross-referencing

AI doesn't trust a single source. It cross-references:

• Website content

• LinkedIn profiles

• Press mentions

• Reviews

• Industry directories

If all sources tell a consistent story, AI trusts you, but if information conflicts or is sparse, AI skips you.

Step 4: Citation selection

AI chooses 2-5 brands to cite based on:

• Best match for the specific query

• Strongest authority signals

• Most quotable content

• Positive sentiment (reviews, mentions)

Step 5: Context generation

AI doesn't just list names. It adds context. I'll use our own agency: "decipher. specialises in creative GEO for UAE brands, combining brand voice development with AI search optimisation."

This context comes from our content, press mentions, and LinkedIn presence.

What this means for you:

You can't game this with keywords. You need genuine authority, comprehensive content, and third-party validation.

The visibility gap: Why your competitors appear and you don't

Here's what makes the difference between brands in the same industry when it comes to their AI brand visibility.

Gap 1: Some have comprehensive content, others have blog posts

Competition:

• 3,000-5,000-word pillar pages

• 10-15 cluster articles per topic

• Topic clusters covering their expertise exhaustively

A brand that's not optimising for AI Search:

• 500-800-word blog posts

• Surface-level advice

• No interconnected content strategy

AI rewards depth. If you're writing short, generic blog posts, you're invisible.

Gap 2: Some have third-party validation, Others don't

Competition:

• Featured in Gulf News, Arabian Business

• Speaking at industry events

• 50+ Google reviews

• Clutch listing with client testimonials

A brand that's not optimising for AI Search:

• Only exists on your website

• No press coverage

• Handful of reviews

• No external validation

AI cross-references. If it can't find credible third-party information about you, it doesn't trust you.

Gap 3: Some have clear positioning, others are generic

Competition:

"We specialise in creative GEO for UAE tech startups, combining brand voice development with AI search optimisation."

A brand that's not optimising for AI Search:

"We're a full-service creative agency offering branding, design, and digital marketing solutions."

AI needs specific positioning. If you try to be everything to everyone, you're nothing to AI.

Gap 4: Some have author credibility, others don't

Competition:

• Every article has an author with credentials

• The founder has an active LinkedIn presence

• Team members publish thought leadership

• Professional affiliations listed

A brand that's not optimising for AI Search:

• Articles written by "Admin"

• No author bios

• The founder has an empty LinkedIn profile

• No visible expertise signals

AI evaluates who's saying something, not just what's being said.

Gap 5: Some update content; others don't

Competition:

• Content updated in the last 30 days

• Pillar pages refreshed quarterly

• New data and examples added regularly

A brand that's not optimising for AI Search:

• Content from 2022

• No updates

• Outdated statistics

AI favours fresh content. Content updated in the last 30 days gets 76.4% more citations than older content.

Platform-by-platform AI visibility strategies

ChatGPT Visibility

How it actually works:

ChatGPT is primarily an AI assistant, not an engine and it operates in two distinct modes:

1. Without web search, ChatGPT draws on its training data. You can't "optimise" for this in any meaningful real-time way, your content either made it into the training set or it didn't. No amount of FAQ sections or H2 tags will change that after the fact.
   
   

2. With web search enabled, ChatGPT sends rewritten queries to third-party search providers (primarily Bing). It then reads the top results, synthesises them, and provides inline citations. So when ChatGPT is browsing, you're really optimising for Bing's search index, not for ChatGPT itself.

Here's what's interesting: testing suggests ChatGPT's search results often align more closely with Google's first page than Bing's. The relationship between ChatGPT and its search providers is more nuanced than a simple Bing pipeline.

What actually helps

• Strong traditional SEO fundamentals because ChatGPT's web search relies on search engine rankings

• Clear authorship and credentials. ChatGPT considers author bios and institutional affiliations when assessing credibility

• Citing your own sources, content that itself references authoritative sources gets treated as more trustworthy

• Specificity over fluff, concrete data, statistics, and step-by-step instructions outperform vague marketing language

• Being a primary source, original research, unique data, and first-hand expertise are harder to replicate than aggregated guides

What doesn't help as much as claimed

• Writing "3,000+ word pillar content" specifically for ChatGPT: word count isn't a ranking signal for any AI platform

• Adding FAQ sections purely for AI consumption: this helps traditional SEO, which indirectly helps, but ChatGPT doesn't specifically seek out FAQ formatting

• "Conversational language" as an optimisation strategy: ChatGPT can extract information from formal, technical, or academic writing just as effectively

Claude Visibility

How it actually works

Pretty much the same as ChatGPT: it first draws on its training data (for which you can't really optimise), and then it browses the internet, rewriting the queries that go to a search engine, analysing the results and synthesising them.

What actually helps

• The same fundamentals that help with any search-based AI: strong SEO, authoritative domain, well-structured content

• Being genuinely useful and accurate: when it searches and evaluates sources, it's looking for relevance and quality, same as any thoughtful reader

• Clear structure: because well-organised content is easier for any reader (human or AI) to extract information from

Perplexity Visibility

How it actually works

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine, so it crawls the web in real time for every query using advanced AI models. It then synthesises responses from multiple sources and provides numbered footnotes linking to the sources, which makes it a trustworthy model for any user.

For this platform in particular, SEO is very important because it acts more like a traditional engine. One important difference is that, unlike Google, Perplexity doesn't index the entire web. It uses a curated, selective index that prioritises trustworthiness and authority. Talk about SEO-focused…

One fascinating finding: Perplexity's most-cited source type is Reddit (6.6% of citations), compared to ChatGPT, which leads with Wikipedia (7.8%). Perplexity appears to value authentic user perspectives and community-generated content alongside traditional authority sources.

Perplexity evaluates sources on three core pillars: domain authority (backlinks, mentions, web presence), clarity and extractability (well-structured, scannable content), and factual accuracy (specific data, verifiable claims, cited sources).

What actually helps

• Freshness: Perplexity weighs recency heavily; newer, well-sourced content can outrank older, authoritative pieces if the topic has evolved

• Citing reputable sources in your own content: Perplexity trusts content that itself cites authoritative references (peer-reviewed journals, government data, recognised industry sources)

• Clear, extractable structure: headings, concise paragraphs, bullet points for scannable information.

• Schema markup: Perplexity's algorithms do favour machine-readable content (schema.org, OpenGraph, JSON-LD). This is one area where the original guide was correct

• Genuine expertise and first-hand experience: authentic perspectives outperform generic aggregation

• Allowing crawler access: make sure PerplexityBot isn't blocked in your robots.txt

Google AI Overviews visibility

How it actually works

Google AI Overviews use Google's Gemini models to generate summaries that appear at the top of search results. They now show up in over 50% of searches, up from 18% in March 2025. They're rapidly replacing Featured Snippets rather than running alongside them.

AI Overviews and traditional organic rankings are increasingly independent systems. Research from Serpstat found that over 90% of AI Overview sources come from outside the top 20 organic positions. However, when Google does cite from organic results, it heavily favours the top 5 (55% of organic citations).

So the old advice of "just rank well and you'll appear in AI Overviews" is not really true in this case. You might rank #1 and never appear in an AI Overview. Same as a page ranking #47 could get cited if it provides the best factual answer.

Google's AI evaluates sources using a "query fan-out" technique: it breaks your search into multiple related sub-queries, evaluates sources across all of them, and synthesises from the best matches. This means topical depth and coverage of related subtopics matters more than optimising for a single keyword.

What actually helps

• Semantic completeness: self-contained passages of roughly 130–170 words that fully answer specific questions without requiring the reader to click elsewhere

• Multimodal content: pages combining text, images, video, and structured data see significantly higher selection rates. Text-only content is at a growing disadvantage

• Factual density and accuracy: Google's AI cross-checks claims against authoritative sources in real time. Content with verifiable statistics, cited sources, and specific data gets prioritised

• E-E-A-T signals: author credentials, institutional affiliations, first-hand experience, and expert authorship are near-mandatory. The vast majority of cited sources show strong E-E-A-T

• Entity-rich content: pages with recognised entities (people, organisations, concepts) and clear relationships between them perform better

• Schema markup: FAQ, HowTo, Article, and especially ImageObject and VideoObject schema all contribute

• Content freshness: regular updates with current statistics and recent citations

The cross-platform truth

So, every AI platform (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) rewards the same fundamental qualities:

1. Be a primary source. Original research, unique data, and first-hand expertise are the hardest things for competitors to replicate and the easiest things for AI systems to recognise as valuable.

2. Be genuinely accurate. AI systems are increasingly cross-referencing claims. Vague marketing language and unsupported assertions get filtered out.

3. Be clearly structured. Not for the AI's benefit specifically, but because a clear structure makes information extractable, by humans and machines alike.

4. Be findable. Most AI platforms rely on search engines for real-time information. If you don't rank in traditional search, most AI tools won't find you either.

5. Be current. Every platform weighs freshness. Outdated content loses to updated content, even if the outdated piece has higher domain authority.

6. Be honest. The platforms that show citations (Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) create accountability. Content that overpromises or misleads gets exposed.

The future of AI brand visibility

Where is this heading? Spoiler: it's about to get intensely personal.

2026-2027: AI becomes the default search interface

Voice assistants, chatbots, and AI interfaces will handle most queries. Traditional search becomes secondary. You're not competing for rankings anymore; you're competing to be the brand AI remembers when someone needs what you offer.

2027-2028: Hyper-personalised AI recommendations (this is where I think things get reeeaaally interesting)

Google's AI Mode and similar "Personal Intelligence" systems are already here. Your Gmail, Calendar, Maps, Photos, Drive, all interconnected, all feeding context to AI. This will only get more common in time.

Let's take Google's Personal Intelligence. If someone goes to AI Mode and says, "I want to start eating healthier", AI doesn't just recommend generic diet plans. It checks:

• Calendar: You're travelling to Dubai next week, then Paris the week after

• Gmail: You've got a birthday dinner reservation at a Chinese restaurant on Friday

• Maps: You usually eat lunch near Les Invalides

• Photos: You've been photographing a lot of vegetarian restaurant meals lately

AI response:

"Based on your travel schedule and that birthday dinner, here's a flexible approach: focus on protein and vegetables Monday-Thursday (here are lunch spots around Les Invalides with healthy options), enjoy your birthday indulgence Friday, then I'll suggest travel-friendly meal prep for your Dubai trip. Want me to add reminders?"

That's not search. That's a personal assistant who knows your life.

What this means for brands:

Generic positioning isn't enough anymore if AI will recommend brands based on:

• User context: Their schedule, location, habits, preferences

• Timing: What they need right now, not generally

• Constraints: Their budget, dietary restrictions, time availability

• Past behaviour: What they've engaged with before

The visibility challenge:

You need to be relevant for specific contexts, not just general queries.

Instead of: "We're a meal prep company in Paris"

You need: "We're a meal prep company in Paris specialising in travel-friendly, portion-controlled meals for busy professionals. We deliver all around central Paris and offer flexible plans for people with irregular schedules."

AI can match that specificity to user context.

I hope this guide helped. What you need to take out of it is that while most brands are still optimising for 2015's search landscape, you could be getting that competitive edge by optimising for AI Search. Why? Because AI assistants and systems are learning your clients' calendars, reading their emails, tracking their locations, and recommending brands that fit their lifestyles right now.

The question isn't whether to invest in AI visibility. It's whether you'll lead or follow and whether you'll still be relevant when search becomes a conversation AI has on behalf of someone who never even mentions your category.

Ready to dominate AI search?

At decipher., we specialise in building AI brand visibility for brands across all markets. We don't just optimise content - we craft comprehensive strategies that get you cited, described, and recommended by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.

Drop us a line at info@decipher.agency. Let's make your brand unmissable.