Being understood and recommended by artificial intelligence even before being chosen by Internet users: this is the new challenge for brands in the age of generative search engines. How to preserve your online visibility while search habits are changing profoundly?
The organic click becoming rarer
The click reflex to a website is eroding. When a summary generated by artificial intelligence appears at the top of a results page, the Internet user more and more often stops there, without going any further.
The figures confirm this shift. On queries that trigger an AI Overview at Google, the average organic click-through rate fell from 1.76% to 0.61% between June 2024 and September 2025, according to a Seer Interactive analysis of more than 25 million impressions. That’s a fall of around 61% in just over a year.
For brands accustomed to measuring their performance by the traffic generated, this shift requires a change of focus. The number one position in the results no longer guarantees the audience it offered yesterday.
A battle for the quote, more than for the position
The crux of the matter is no longer just to be well classified, but to be cited. Conversational engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity construct their responses from sources that they consider reliable, and a brand absent from this corpus simply becomes invisible to the eyes of the AI.
This emerging discipline, called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), aims precisely to structure the content and online presence of a company so that it is included in the responses generated. This is notably the positioning of Botanik, SEO and GEO agencywhich supports companies in adapting their content strategy to these new search uses.
In the conversational assistant market, concentration remains strong: ChatGPT captures 45% of the market share, ahead of Claude (20%), Gemini (15%) and Perplexity (10%), according to a Similarweb study published at the end of 2025. A handful of players thus dictate the visibility rules for all advertisers.
The signals that now matter
The selection criteria for a generative AI differ significantly from those for a traditional search engine.
In this context, external mentions play an increasing role. Customer reviews, specialized publications, press articles, recognized forums or even recommendations from third-party sites reinforce the credibility of a brand. In other words, external reputation now weighs more than the brand message itself.
Brands must adapt their digital strategy
Faced with these changes, companies must evolve their practices. Producing more content is no longer enough: we must create useful, precise resources capable of answering Internet users’ complex questions.
This involves strengthening its expertise, optimizing its content and developing its presence on recognized platforms.
Monitoring visibility in AI-generated responses is also becoming a new strategic reflex. Brands need to understand how they appear in these environments to identify opportunities for improvement.
Anticipate the evolution of generative engines
Artificial intelligence does not replace natural referencing: it transforms its objectives. Traditional SEO remains essential, but it must now be supplemented by an approach oriented towards generative engines.
Brands capable of anticipating this evolution will be able to strengthen their presence in a rapidly transforming digital environment. Visibility will no longer depend only on the positions obtained in search results, but also on their ability to be recognized and recommended by artificial intelligence.
