The field is new, the terminology is unsettled, and vendor hype runs high. This FAQ separates what's real from what's speculative.

As brands incorporate creators and influencers into more of their marketing and advertising strategies, they are fueling the growth of the creator economy, while making it more competitive and complex.

Consumer interest in chatbot-based checkout isn’t quite there, but AI-based discovery is on the rise.

The company is shifting tactics as users prefer to purchase on retail sites rather than in chatbots.

Reddit has surged in recent years, fueled in part by Google search referrals. But the platform’s unique attributes mean marketers must take a more bespoke, labor-intensive approach.

42% of UK/US B2B tech CMOs say declining performance from traditional search channels is driving them to adapt for generative engine optimization (GEO) and zero-click search, tied with the 42% who say AI is changing how buyers discover and evaluate brands, according to a December report from 3Thinkrs.

US B2B digital ad spending reached just over $20 billion in 2025, per EMARKETER, as brands compete for attention across an increasingly fragmented channel mix.

AI platforms’ long-held anti-advertising stance changed in January 2026. The rising cost of competing in AI has forced OpenAI and Google to launch AI ad pilots, and other platforms will likely follow suit. But advertisers may not be the winners in this gold rush.

54% of US marketers plan to fully implement their generative engine optimization (GEO) strategy within three to six months, according to September 2025 data from Scribewise.

Our analysts (or “bakers”) compete in a Great British Bake Off–style episode, discussing why lawsuits and regulations will begin to fundamentally shift how kids use social media and how brands are going to use creators to figure out generative engine optimization (GEO). Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Senior Analyst Minda Smiley and Principal Analyst Max Willens. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

New data shows traditional SEO success no longer guarantees visibility inside generative AI answers. Ahrefs found that fewer than 9% of ChatGPT and Gemini citations come from URLs ranked in Google’s top 10 results—meaning more than 90% of high-ranking organic pages never appear in AI responses. Instead, LLMs lean heavily on community-driven sources like Reddit, YouTube, Wikipedia, Yelp, and TripAdvisor, dramatically reshaping early-stage discovery. With LLM usage exceeding one billion monthly users, brands that do not participate in open forums risk disappearing from AI-mediated journeys. Marketers must treat GEO as a distinct discipline, not an extension of SEO.

For social platforms, AI hype is colliding with user fatigue and rising regulations. In the US, they face stalled engagement and tougher rules as people demand more control and more human experiences.

In 2026, a new financial ecosystem will form around five trends—stablecoins, agentic AI, consolidation, financial media networks, and AI search—blurring boundaries between banking, technology, and commerce.

Brands are ramping up GEO efforts to ensure maximum visibility this holiday season. Tactics include flooding the internet with content; paying influencers to post on TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook; and building entire websites visible only to AI scrapers. If that fails, companies have more opportunities to pay for advertising within AI search results as Walmart, Amazon, and Google ramp up efforts to monetize their AI tools. GEO is a strategic imperative for brands looking to remain discoverable as more shopping research migrates to AI platforms. Given the opportunity, companies should also be experimenting with AI search ads to see how shoppers interact with the format and whether these promos drive purchases or reduce trust in AI recommendations.

AI, stricter safety rules, and new ad restrictions are reshaping the UK digital landscape as local sellers gain leverage, platforms face new friction, and advertisers adapt to a fast-changing regulatory environment.

Future-proofing against—and capitalizing on—advances in consumer-facing AI will be the overarching theme for retailers in 2026.

Google is adding agentic checkout to its shopping capabilities in time for the holiday season, alongside other genAI tools. These updates defend Google’s core search ad business as shopping queries move toward conversational interfaces, even as the company still dominates the search journey. They also position Google to benefit from increased genAI adoption this holiday season.

Generative AI is transforming how consumers discover products and brands earn visibility. As usage of—and trust in—AI grows, brands must rethink how they optimize for discovery and measure success.