SEO in 2026 is expanding, not changing. Traditional search still matters, but now SEO also includes AI-driven discovery, social platforms, and chatbots. The principles are the same, like clarity, structure, authority, and relevance, but the platforms are multiplying. We surveyed 59 SEOs to see how they’re handling these changes.
Some have less than a year of experience. Others have been in the field for over a decade. Their answers show an industry figuring things out. A few are ahead of the curve, but most are still catching up.
The best SEOs aren’t just reacting to AI. They’re using it to strengthen what already works: technical foundations, high-quality content, and real authority. Others are stuck debating whether SEO should even keep its name.
Here’s what stood out, and where Yoast fits into the conversation of what SEO means in 2026.
You can find the full results, with more questions and deeper insights from Yoast’s principal SEOs, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss, in a downloadable PDF. Sign up below!
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51% of respondents consider SEO to be “evolving”. 33% say it’s “thriving”. Only 10% think it’s “declining”.
This is an interesting divide, but it’s not random. In the results, those with 10+ years of experience say SEO is thriving, while newcomers say it is not. It might be that experts know the landscape better and see change as a constant.
Alex Moss’s take:“SEO has always adapted to changes in the SERP, and now it’s adapting again. The traditional SERP is gone, but SEO isn’t.”
Carolyn Shelby’s take:“SEO is evolving, but not because its fundamentals are breaking. The interfaces between users and information are changing. Search is no longer confined to ten blue links, but the need for structured, relevant, trustworthy content hasn’t diminished.”
The Yoast Perspective: We think SEO isn’t going anywhere, but there are changes happening. Traditional search from Google and Bing still drives traffic, but AI-driven discovery from LLM-powered assistants shapes perception and discovery. Therefore, the best SEOs don’t choose sides in this fight; they are mastering both directions.
2. Keep the name Search Engine Optimization
39% say SEO should be relabeled “Search Everywhere Optimization”. Only 32% want to keep “Search Engine Optimization”.
Big support for relabeling SEO, and even among veterans, 41% prefer Search Everywhere Optimization. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should do this.
Alex Moss’s take:“The term ‘SEO’ will stay. The role will widen to include AI and other disciplines, but the name doesn’t need to change.”
Carolyn Shelby’s take:“The term ‘SEO’ still holds shared meaning, credibility, and market recognition. There’s no strong evidence that rebranding the discipline itself is necessary or beneficial. Responses favoring ‘Search Everywhere Optimization’ reflect where SEO outcomes now surface, not a fundamentally different practice.”
The Yoast Perspective: We at Yoast don’t think the term SEO is broken. Yes, there is a lot of change happening, especially in search, with AI overviews, chatbots, and social media platforms, but what about the core SEO work? You still have to focus on technical foundations, content quality, brand building, and authority.
‘Search Everywhere Optimization’ might describe where SEO happens, but it doesn’t change what SEO is. The name ‘SEO’ still works, but we just need to explain how it applies to AI and social platforms.
3. Good SEO is LLM optimization
64% agree LLM optimization is essentially the same as traditional SEO. 59% aren’t even actively optimizing for LLMs.
You might call this laziness, but you could also call it efficiency. It oftentimes comes down to the same thing.
There’s also the 9% who strongly disagree with this statement. These respondents say LLMs prioritize synthesis over rankings, so focusing on structured data and brand mentions makes more sense for them. Of course, they are not wrong, but they don’t contradict what others have said. LLMs don’t require new tactics; they just reward the same SEO principles more strictly.
Alex Moss’s take:“If you’re undertaking good SEO, you’re already optimizing well for LLMs. The tactics don’t change—just the audience.”
Carolyn Shelby’s take:“The same practices that make content discoverable and trustworthy for search engines also make it usable for LLMs. The confusion arises when people treat LLMs as a completely separate system. In reality, LLM visibility rewards clarity, relevance, and authority—all long-standing SEO principles.”
LLM optimization isn’t a separate discipline because it’s SEO for AI. The same principles apply: clarity, structure, and authority. The difference? AI systems are less forgiving of mediocre content, so the bar for quality is higher.
4. Rankings still matter, but not like they used to
52% say rankings are “equally important” as before. 30% say they’re “less important”.
This is a sensible shift. Google’s AI overviews and other zero-click results mean visibility does not equal traffic. For AI systems, rankings are still an authority signal.
Alex Moss’s take:“Traditional rankings are still important because agents still search the web to ingest information. If you aren’t visible there, it’s less likely an agent will identify and select you into their responses.”
Carolyn Shelby’s take:“Rankings still matter, but they are no longer the end goal. They are a proxy for visibility, not a guarantee of impact.”
The Yoast Perspective: We need to stop obsessing over ranking number one, so start tracking visibility and presence. Check whether you are cited in AI-driven answers, and try to be mentioned in industry discussions. AI visibility and citations are the new rankings.
5. Organic traffic is still king, but for how long?
55% say “organic traffic” is their top metric. Yet 49% cite “reducing organic clicks” as their biggest challenge.
We see this as the great paradox of 2026. Traffic is down, but the value of that traffic could be up. You might get less traffic, but the clicks that do happen have a better intent.
Carolyn Shelby’s take: “As AI reduces the need for some visits, success looks like being represented correctly rather than merely visited. Visibility in AI overviews doesn’t always drive clicks, but it builds legitimacy. Being included signals that you’re a credible source, even when users don’t click.”
Our advice:
Work on AI visibility, as this is the new SEO metric. Just as rankings show your visibility in traditional search, citations in AI overviews show your authority in AI-driven discovery. Track it alongside rankings and traffic
Keep an eye on branded search volume to learn whether people are looking for you by name
Monitor citations to see if others are referencing your content online
6. Content saturation is a big threat
39% say “competing with AI-generated content” is their top challenge. Only 4% cite a “talent gap.”
We know AI can write bad content. But it’s a bigger challenge when AI writes good enough content at scale. This will flood the web with noise, making it hard to penetrate.
Alex Moss’s take:“AI-generated content is artificial. Humans connect with stories, not regurgitated lists.”
Carolyn Shelby’s take:“AI doesn’t change what good content is, but just raises the bar. Mediocrity doesn’t just rank lower; it disappears.”
Our advice:
Focus on building your EEAT, because AI can’t fake real-world expertise and authority
Prioritize quality over quantity, as a single great piece of content can beat ten average ones
Use AI, but be careful and always use it as a tool, not as a replacement
7. Most SEOs are ignoring a fast-growing search channel
Traditional search (Google/Bing) is still #1. But TikTok search ranks #5, lower than Amazon.
This might be something of a blind spot for many. Younger generations use TikTok and other video platforms for entertainment, recommendations, tutorials, and even B2B advice.
Alex Moss’s take:“Social platforms influence how LLMs perceive freshness and authority. Ignoring them means missing out on signals that AI systems value.”
Carolyn Shelby’s take:“You don’t need to rank on TikTok, but you do need to be discoverable there. LLMs scrape social platforms for real-world signals.”
The Yoast Perspective: SEO now includes social platforms like TikTok. You don’t need to rank there, but you do need to be discoverable, because LLMs scrape these platforms for fresh, authoritative content. A great video channel can boost your authority in AI responses.
Our advice:
Repurpose content for video platforms like TikTok and YouTube
Check brand mentions in these platforms
Improve your video SEO in general
What Yoast’s experts really think
The data shows trends, but the real wisdom comes from Yoast’s SEO leaders, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss. Here is a small peek at the insights they share about the various debates:
On “Search Everywhere Optimization”:
Alex: “The term ‘SEO’ will stay. The role will widen, but the name doesn’t need to change.”
Carolyn: “Rebranding risks fragmenting understanding. ‘SEO’ is already well-established outside the industry.”
On the future of SEO metrics:
Alex: “As we move from being seen to being selected, visits don’t hold the same value they used to. The business goal should be the most important metric.”
Carolyn: “Visibility in AI overviews doesn’t always drive clicks, but it builds legitimacy. Being included signals that you’re a credible source.”
On rankings vs. influence:
Alex: “Rankings still matter because agents search the web to ingest information.”
Carolyn: “Rankings are a proxy for visibility, not a guarantee of impact. Focus on presence.”
On the role of SEOs in 2026:
Alex: “100% all three: marketers, brand builders, and SEO specialists. Brand and marketing have become intertwined with SEO as our role expands.”
Carolyn: “A blended mindset is essential. SEO can’t operate in isolation from brand, product, or communications.”
Do you want to read the full story?
These insights are just a small taster for you. In the full Yoast SEO report, you’ll find much more:
Includes the full answers to all 25 questions
In-depth commentary from Yoast’s SEO experts, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2026-04-21 10:29:142026-04-21 10:29:14The Yoast Perspective 2026: 7 things we learned from the SEO industry
AI is changing search and rewriting the rules. If your brand isn’t visible in AI-generated answers, you have a bigger problem than just traffic. You’re missing out on trust, credibility, and customers who now expect AI to recommend the best options everywhere.
We see that traditional SEO isn’t enough anymore. Today, it’s possible to rank #1 on Google and still be invisible in the AI responses people now often turn to for recommendations.
Yoast AI Brand Insights is a great tool that shows you exactly how your brand appears in AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google Gemini. It tracks sentiments and benchmarks against competitors. What’s more, it doesn’t just help build your AI visibility, but also helps control your brand’s narrative.
Key takeaways
AI visibility matters; brands absent in AI responses lose trust and customers.
Yoast AI Brand Insights helps track brand mentions, sentiment, and credibility across AI platforms.
Modern SEO now focuses on AI visibility, moving beyond traditional search engines.
To improve AI brand visibility, brands should publish authoritative content and optimize for AI citations.
Active participation in online communities enhances brand visibility on AI platforms.
Why modern SEO is about AI visibility
People are no longer just searching on Google. Every day, more people are asking AI tools and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity for recommendations. Unlike classic search engines, these tools don’t just list links; they curate answers by combining trained knowledge with information they’ve learned from the web.
AI platforms combine information from multiple sources to provide a single, context-aware, and custom answer. People even start treating these AI answers as personal advice, not just generic search results. This will happen more and more as search engines like Google increasingly integrate AI into their search results. As a result, the boundaries between traditional search and AI-generated answers are blurring.
AI search is a blind spot for most
Classic SEO tools track rankings, but they don’t track how your brand appears in AI answers. This leads to blind spots where your competitors might be all over the AI recommendations in your market without you realizing it.
What’s more, you might rank well on Google, but you could be invisible to a growing audience if AI systems ignore your brand. Your competitors can appear more often or more positively in AI recommendations. Or there’s negative sentiment in AI responses that can harm your reputation without you even knowing.
Controlling the narrative of your brand
AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini piece together your brand’s story from scattered sources, like reviews, news articles, social media, and your own content. If these send mixed signals, the answers an AI gives will too. That’s why you need to send a unified, consistent message. This is one of the most effective ways to reinforce your narrative across every platform.
Repeat your main message, whether that’s “affordable luxury” or “sustainable innovation,” everywhere, from your site content to press releases and from social media to external interviews.
Quickly address misinformation and respond to inaccurate reviews by publishing clarifications online. By doing this, you prevent the AI from amplifying outdated or incorrect details.
Support your brand’s most important attributes with structured data. Add the awards your brand won, or its unique selling points, so you can give the AI platform an all-encompassing framework to reference.
Remember, consistency is about repeating your most important brand aspects everywhere. Shape the narrative in such a way that the AI has no choice but to reflect the brand the way you want it to project.
Yoast AI Brand Insights is here to help
Yoast AI Brand Insights is a helpful tool that tracks how your brand appears in AI answers. It provides a clear, actionable view of your brand’s visibility, sentiment, and credibility across major AI platforms.
Yoast AI Brand Insights helps you:
Understand if and how your brand is mentioned in AI responses
Track sentiment and see if AI platforms describe your brand positively or negatively
Identify the sources to see what AI references when mentioning your brand
Benchmark against competitors to see how you stack up
We didn’t build this to get you some data, but to turn that AI black box into actionable insights.
The main page of the Yoast AI Brand Insights shows your main metrics, and you can delve deeper into your analysis by going to Analysis details
Understanding the AI visibility metrics
Using the Yoast AI Brand Insights metrics helps you measure and improve your brand’s visibility in AI platforms. To make the most of it, you have to understand what metrics mean and why they matter.
AI Visibility Index (AIVI)
The AI Visibility Index (AIVI) scores (on a scale of 100) how visible your brand is on AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. It consists of the following metrics:
Mentions, or how often your brand is cited in AI answers
Citations, or the number of authoritative sources referencing your brand
Sentiment, or the rate of positive vs. negative keywords associated with your brand
Rankings, or the relative position of your brand mentions compared to your competitors
The higher the AIVI score (on a scale of 0-100), the more visible your brand is in AI search results for the tracked terms. If you find that your score is low, you should focus on getting more mentions and citations. You should also work on positive sentiment around your business.
You build your relevance by publishing authoritative content. Try to get featured on relevant sites and monitor and improve negative sentiment around your brand. Learn more about how AI shapes brand perception.
The higher the AIVI score (on a scale of 0-100), the more visible your brand is in AI search results for the tracked terms
Mentions
The Mentions section tracks the specific queries for which your brand appears in AI responses. So, if someone asks, “What is the best low-cost CRM system for small businesses?” and your brand is in the results, that is a mention.
It’s not hard to understand why this is important. More mentions generally lead to greater visibility. If you don’t show up for the terms and queries relevant to your brand, you need to start improving your content.
Use the built-in AI-generated brand queries to find high-intent questions and write content that answers those questions thoroughly. These could be blog posts or FAQ pages, or whatever makes sense. Also optimize for conversational queries, such as “Is brand X good for startups?”
The mentions section tracks the specific queries for which your brand appears in AI responses
Sentiment
Sentiment measures the percentage of negative vs. positive words in the query results associated with your brand. So, if the AI describes your brand as “innovative” or “reliable”, that counts as positive sentiment. However, if they use terms like “overpriced” or “unreliable”, that’s negative sentiment.
Positive sentiment helps build trust, while negative sentiment can drive potential customers away. That’s why you should always actively address negative sentiments online. Don’t leave those bad online reviews unresponded to. You can also publish testimonials on your site to amplify positive voices, and you can do the same in your marketing messaging by talking about “a brand loved by thousands” or “award-winning” products.
Keep an eye on trends in your online sentiment and catch and fix issues early.
Sentiment measures the percentage of negative vs. positive words in the query results associated with your brand
Citations
Citations refer to the sources that AI platforms explicitly reference when generating an answer, not the brands mentioned within those sources. For example, if Gemini answers a query about “the best credit cards” and cites a New York Times article about best credit cards, that New York Times page is the citation. Even if the article includes brands like American Express or Chase, the citation is attributed to the publisher, not to the individual brands.
That said, appearing in those cited sources still matters a great deal. If your brand is consistently featured in relevant, high-authority publications like The New York Times, it increases the likelihood that AI systems will surface your brand in their responses over time. In other words, you may not receive a direct citation, but you benefit from being part of the content that AI platforms trust and rely on.
Over time, your brand (say, American Express or Chase) becomes more likely to be included in AI responses to queries like “best credit cards,” especially if it consistently appears in trusted sources.
AI platforms use citations to validate their answers. Citations from top sources, such as industry publications, enhance credibility. Find where there’s a natural match between your customers and their audience, and publish the type of content people will want to link to.
Citations refer to the sources that AI platforms explicitly reference when generating an answer
5 Ways to improve your AI brand visibility
Now that you understand the metrics, here’s how to use insights from Yoast AI Brand Insights to improve your AI visibility.
Optimize for AI citations
AI platforms like Gemini, Perplexity, and ChatGPT use citations to validate their responses. So, citations increase the likelihood of your brand being included and trusted in AI-generated answers
Try to get featured on relevant, authoritative sites and publish guest posts on industry sites, news sites, or educational domains. Get mentioned in roundup articles, like “Top 10 tools for doing X”. Ask customers to write reviews on platforms like Capterra, G2, and Trustpilot. All of these tactics can act as proof that your brand is a well-trusted source. Remember, it must be relevant citations.
Make sure your content is structured so the AI can read it easily. Use clear, hierarchical headings and bullet points to make the content easy to scan. Add FAQs and publish direct answers to common questions. It is also a good idea to add schema markup to help the AI crawlers understand your content.
Don’t forget to update old content regularly. The AI platforms prioritize fresh, up-to-date information when retrieving sources, so refresh your content regularly to stay relevant.
Monitor and improve brand sentiment
By mentioning your brand, the AI platforms also shape how people see it. If those sentiments in the AI’s answers are negative, it can hurt your trustworthiness and cost conversions. This could signal the need for a broader reconsideration of business strategy priorities.
Once you find AI platforms associate your brand with negative terms (like “slow customer service”), respond to this issue publicly. For instance, you could contact customers on review sites to resolve complaints. You can also publish case studies and testimonials to steer the AI towards positive perceptions.
In your monitoring, you’ll also find the positive terms AI platforms associate with your brand, such as “trusted” or “innovative”. Use these terms in your marketing, in your site content, and on social media.
The weekly scans in Yoast AI Brand Insights track sentiment shifts for your queries over time. If sentiment drops, investigate the cause, like a recent PR issue or a product recall.
Benchmark against competitors
AI visibility is also about how you compare to the competition. If they are mentioned more often or in a better light than you, they will appear more often in recommendations made by AI platforms.
See how your brand stacks up against competitors. Use Yoast’s Competitor ranking tab to see which brands show up a lot in AI answers. Analyze their content strategy. Do they publish more case studies? Are they active on review sites?
This tool shows how AI describes your brand compared to others in your market. For example, if you’re a coffee company like Taylor’s of Harrogate, you might find that Lavazza is consistently labeled as “the Italian espresso expert.” Now you know exactly what to highlight, whether it’s your heritage, roasting process, or sustainability, to stand out. Use these insights to sharpen your messaging and compete more effectively.
Don’t forget to check your weekly competitor analyses to see if your AI visibility is improving. Double down on the strategy that works for you. The tool also includes an historical view. This lets you look back at earlier analyses by selecting a past date, helping you compare visibility and sentiment across different points in time.
For each tracked query, Yoast AI Brand Insights gives specific insights into how your brand performs versus the competition
Answer brand-specific questions
AI platforms are very good at answering specific questions, such as “Is brand X reliable?” or “What’s the best tool to do Y?” You’re missing out on a lot of potential customers when your brand isn’t in these answers.
Yoast AI Brand Insights suggests queries you should monitor based on your input, such as “Is [Your Brand] good for small businesses?” In addition, do deep research into the common questions asked in your industry using tools like AnswerThePublic, AlsoAsked, or simply by checking Google’s People Also Ask section.
With the insights gathered, publish blog posts, FAQs, or landing pages and directly answer those brand-related queries. Support the content with properly structured data, such as FAQ and how-to schema, to give AI platforms more tools to understand your content.
In Yoast AI Brand Insights, track which questions get the most mentions from AI platforms. Don’t forget to keep your content up to date to keep it accurate and relevant.
During the setup, Yoast AI Brand Insights generates five highly relevant queries based on your input. You can change them if you like
Track progress with the AI Visibility Index
Improving the AI visibility of your brand isn’t a one-time task, but a recurring effort. Luckily, Yoast’s AI Visibility Index gives you an easy-to-understand metric that you can use to track your progress over time.
Run your first scan to establish the starting point for your AI Visibility Index. Note which areas, like citations or sentiment, are strongest and weakest.
Yoast AI Brand Insights runs weekly scans. Please review them to track progress. Check the historical view, but remember these cannot be viewed together. Select the week before and then reselect this week to spot changes. Look for trends, such as improvements in sentiment or a sudden increase in citations.
If your score doesn’t improve, revisit the strategies above, such as optimizing for citations and improving sentiment. Be sure to experiment with new tactics and publish original research to secure more earned media.
How to influence LLMs to mention your brand
Imagine this: A potential customer asks ChatGPT, “What’s the best CRM for small businesses?” If your brand isn’t mentioned in the answer, you’ve lost a customer before they even knew you existed.
LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity don’t just pull answers out of thin air. They rely on data, citations, and patterns to generate responses. If your brand isn’t part of those patterns, it’s far less likely to be mentioned, no matter how well you rank on Google.
Publish authoritative content
LLMs are looking for well-structured, factually accurate content. These AI platforms love sources that provide unique insights or expert opinions, so be sure to focus on that.
Start with original research. Publish surveys, case studies, or industry reports with unique data. For example, “2026 State of [Your Industry] Report: Key Trends and Insights” positions your brand as an authority and gives AI platforms a reason to cite you.
Use the proven inverted pyramid structure in your content. Start with the most important information, like key findings and conclusions, follow with supporting details, and end with background information. This makes it easier for AI to extract, digest, and use your content.
Don’t forget to optimize for facts. Include statistics, quotes from experts, and actionable insights. For example, instead of “Our tool is great for marketers,” say “Our tool increased conversion rates by 30% for 500+ marketers in 2025, according to our latest case study.”
For example, HubSpot built its authority by publishing ultimate guides, like “The Ultimate Guide to Inbound Marketing.” These guides became go-to resources for marketers, earning backlinks from industry blogs, news sites, and even competitors. As a result, HubSpot is now frequently cited in AI responses about marketing tools.
Get mentioned on relevant, high-authority sites
LLMs trust reputable sources like industry publications, news sites, and review platforms. The more your brand is mentioned on these sites, the more likely it is to appear in AI responses. Please keep in mind that relevance is key here. For instance, if Yoast gets mentioned in Gardeners’ World or Home and Garden, it will do little to nothing for our brand. Find the most important and relevant sources and focus on those.
Pitch stories to journalists or industry blogs. For example, try to get featured in “Top 10 [Your Industry] Tools in 2026” lists.
Encourage customers to leave reviews on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, or Google Reviews. Don’t forget to respond to (negative) reviews to show engagement and transparency.
If possible, try to reach out to sites like HubSpot, Search Engine Journal, or industry-specific blogs and ask to write for them. Be sure to include a bio with your brand name to reinforce recognition.
Optimize for conversational queries
LLMs are designed to answer natural language questions. This means you have to optimize your content for conversational queries. Conversational queries are things like “What’s the best CRM for startups?” rather than “best CRM”.
In your content, you should use question-focused headings. For example, answer the question “Is [Your Brand] good for small businesses?” directly in the first paragraph to make it clear and easy to understand.
LLMs often answer long-tail questions, so you should target long-tail keywords. For example, instead of “project management tool,” target “best project management tool for remote teams in 2026.”
In support of all of this, create FAQ pages with schema markup to help AI better understand your content.
Build citations
Build up a network of high-quality mentions that reinforce your brand’s authority. The more high-quality, relevant citations you have, the more likely LLMs are to mention your brand.
Publish assets like ultimate guides, templates, or tools that others want to reference and link to. For example, “The Ultimate Guide to [Your Industry] in 2026.”
Reach out to bloggers, journalists, and influencers to reference your content. For example, “We noticed you mentioned [Competitor] in your article. Here’s why [Your Brand] might be a better fit.”
Get featured in press releases, podcasts, or webinars. For example, “[Your Brand] Announces Groundbreaking Feature for [Industry].”
Make sure AI crawlers can reach your site
It’s important to ensure that AI crawlers can discover and index your content. If your site is invisible to them for whatever reason, your brand won’t appear in AI responses.
Your site should be technically sound, but you can also help LLMs in other ways. Make sure your site loads fast and is mobile-friendly. Use clean URLs, good meta tags and descriptions, and alt text for images. Also, use schema on your site to help AI crawlers understand what your site is about and how it all ties together.
In Yoast SEO, you can activate an llms.txt file. This proposed standard helps point AI crawlers to your most important content. Also, check whether your robots.txt file inadvertently blocks AI crawlers from accessing your content.
The llms.txt file in Yoast SEO helps point AI crawlers to your most important content
Be active in online communities
LLMs are trained on and can retrieve information from forums, social media, and community platforms such as Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn. It can improve your brand’s visibility on AI platforms if you participate there.
Answer questions on Quora and Reddit. Provide valuable, non-promotional answers that naturally mention your brand. For example, “As a [Your Industry] expert, I recommend [Your Brand] because…”
Join discussions on Slack, Discord, or niche forums. Share insights and link to your content when relevant. Post thought leadership content on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. For example, “Here’s why [Your Industry] is changing in 2026, and how [Your Brand] is leading the way.”
The future of brand visibility is AI-driven
We’ve seen that AI is changing how people discover brands. There’s a simple rule: if your brand isn’t visible in AI responses, you are missing out on an ever-growing audience.
Luckily, Yoast AI Brand Insights gives you the tools to:
Track mentions, sentiment, and citations across AI platforms
Benchmark against competitors to identify gaps
Optimize for high-intent queries to capture more attention
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2026-04-16 14:45:232026-04-16 14:45:235 ways to improve your AI brand visibility (Using Yoast AI Brand Insights)
We launched the Yoast SEO Task List in December to give you a clear, actionable to-do list for your site’s SEO. In this update, we’ve added two new tasks, improved how you navigate to fixes, and resolved a bug that was showing tasks in the wrong language.
A quick recap: what does the Task List do?
The Task List scans your site and surfaces specific content that needs attention, ranked by priority with an estimated time to fix. Instead of guessing what to work on next, you click a task and Yoast takes you directly to the right place to make the improvement. Think of it as a personal SEO assistant that knows your site.
What’s new in this update
New task: improve your meta descriptions
Meta descriptions are the short snippets that appear under your page title in Google search results. They don’t directly affect rankings, however they have a significant impact on whether someone clicks your link. The Task List will now flag recent posts where the meta description is missing or could be stronger, and point you to where you can fix it. Premium users can use the AI Generate button to write one in seconds.
New task: delete your sample page
Every new WordPress site comes with a default “Sample Page” that most people never delete. It adds no value and can create unnecessary noise for search engines. The Task List will now remind you to remove it if it’s still there. It’s a two-minute job that’s easy to overlook.
When someone shares your content on Facebook or X, the image that appears alongside it can make a real difference to whether people click. The Task List will now remind you to set a custom social sharing image for your posts and pages, so your content looks its best every time it gets shared.
Go directly to the right place in the editor
Previously, clicking a task would open the post editor and leave you to find the right section yourself. Now, Yoast takes you to the exact part of the editor you need: the SEO tab, the readability panel, or the meta description field. Less scrolling, faster fixing.
Bug fix: tasks now appear in your language
We fixed a bug where task descriptions were showing up in the site’s language rather than the logged-in user’s language. If you manage a multilingual site, or your personal language settings differ from your site’s default, tasks will now display correctly for you.
Also in this release
We’ve added a new Yoast tab to the WordPress Plugins screen that groups all your installed Yoast plugins in one place. This requires WordPress 7.0+.
We fixed a bug where alt text changes made via the inline image editor in How-to and FAQ blocks weren’t saving correctly to the frontend. Thanks to @param-chandarana for the report.
What’s coming next
We’re continuing to expand the Task List with improvements that surface high-impact changes specific to your content. Users of paid plans will see additional tasks in upcoming releases.
Update to Yoast SEO 27.4 to get these improvements automatically, or download the latest version from the WordPress plugin directory.
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Eligible Yoast customers can now run a free Yoast AI Brand Insights scan and get a personalized report showing how ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini see your brand. Your brand is part of the AI conversation whether you’re monitoring it or not. Yoast AI Brand Insights, part of the Yoast SEO AI+ plan gives you visibility into what AI tools say about you, how often you appear, and whether the picture they paint matches reality. To help you see that for yourself, we’re offering eligible customers a free, one-time scan.
What you’ll see
Your AI Visibility Index: a clear score showing how present your brand is across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini
Sentiment analysis: whether AI describes you positively, neutrally, or in a way that needs attention
Competitor benchmarking: how often your competitors appear alongside you, so you know where you stand
Citation tracking: which sources AI is drawing on when it talks about your brand
How it works
Add your brand details, set your location, and generate your queries. Your personalized report is ready in minutes.
Current customers can locate Yoast AI Brand Insights inside their MyYoast account
Who is eligible
Existing customers on one of the following plans can log in and try a brand scan for free today.
Yoast SEO Premium
Yoast WooCommerce SEO
Yoast SEO Google Docs add-on
Look out for your invitation inside the product the next time you log in.
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AI isn’t just shaping decisions anymore – it’s starting to make them. That’s the world of agentic commerce, where autonomous agents act before humans even weigh in. In these scenarios:
Products are evaluated in entirely new ways
Brand signals take on a different meaning
“Optimized for people” is no longer enough
On the latest episode of the SEO Unplugged podcast, our colleague Alex Moss joins as a guest to break down what agent-first commerce actually means, how AI agents assess products and services, and what brands should be rethinking now to stay ahead.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2026-04-02 12:02:072026-04-02 12:02:07Get discovered podcast: How Yoast is rethinking SEO in the Age of AI
Search is changing fast – make sure you’re not falling behind.
Sign up for the next SEO Update by Yoast and get expert-led clarity on what’s happening in SEO right now and what it means for your strategy.
Join Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss as they unpack the most important SEO news, algorithm shifts, and industry developments – so you can focus on what actually moves the needle.
Who should sign up?
This update is ideal if you:
Want expert insight into recent SEO changes and trends
Need help refining or validating your SEO strategy
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2026-04-01 14:32:292026-04-01 14:32:29The SEO Update by Yoast – April 2026
You’ve worked hard to build your product catalog. The last thing you want is AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini describing your products inaccurately to potential customers.
AI tools don’t browse your whole store the way a search engine does. They grab what they can find, quickly, and fill in the gaps. For a store with a large catalog, that means incomplete answers, outdated information, or worse, sending shoppers to a competitor.
The new llms.txt feature, available in Yoast SEO for Shopify bridges that gap.
What does it actually do?
It creates a file that tells AI tools which parts of your store matter most: your top products, your collections, your policies, and your key pages. Think of it as handing AI a well-organized store guide instead of letting it wander around on its own.
You switch it on once. We handle the rest.
Two ways to use it
Let Yoast handle it automatically
Turn it on and we’ll build and update the file each week based on your Shopify data. No decisions needed. The file automatically highlights:
Your 10 most-sold products over time
Up to 5 of your largest collections, plus a link to your full product range
Your store policies, including shipping, returns, and privacy
Your homepage, latest blog posts, and most recently updated pages
Any pages you’ve already marked as cornerstone content
Or choose exactly what’s included
If you’d rather have full control, switch to manual selection. You can hand-pick the products and pages you want to feature, and there’s a dedicated spot to add your “About us” page so AI knows the story behind your brand.
Either way, the file updates weekly and removes deleted products automatically.
No technical knowledge needed
Setting this up from scratch would normally mean editing code. We’ve built it directly into your Yoast SEO for Shopify settings so any member of your team can turn it on in seconds. If you already have a redirect set up for /llms.txt, we’ll respect it and let you know, so nothing breaks.
You decide when it’s right for your business
We believe every merchant should have a say in how their content is seen and used as AI plays a bigger role in how people discover products online. That’s why this feature is opt-in.
Turn on the llms.txt toggle in Yoast SEO for Shopify next time you log in to your store.
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AI search is changing how visibility works. Users are getting direct answers instead of clicking links, which means fewer chances to drive traffic. In this shift, AI citations are becoming the new gatekeepers, deciding which sources get featured in answers. Over the past year, search has moved from ranking pages to selecting sources, pushing us from traditional SEO toward AI-driven visibility.
In this article, we’ll explain what AI citations are, how they work, and how you can earn them.
AI citations are references that search engines include in AI-generated answers, enhancing credibility and visibility
This shift in visibility moves from traditional SEO ranking to AI-driven inclusion as a key factor for brand presence
AI tools retrieve information from diverse sources, with citations coming from both top-ranking and deeper pages
To earn AI citations, create valuable, structured content and establish topical authority across your niche
Tools like Yoast AI Brand Insights help track your AI visibility and citation presence across platforms
What are AI citations?
Citations have always been a way to show where information comes from and why it can be trusted. The same idea now applies to AI-generated answers.
ChatGPT cites resources in its answer
AI citations are the references that search engines and AI tools include to support the answers they generate. When a tool like ChatGPT responds to a query, it often points to specific pages or sources that back up the information. These references act as signals of credibility, helping users understand where the answer is coming from and giving them a way to explore the original content.
In simple terms, if your content is cited, it becomes part of the answer itself, and not just another link in the results.
AI citations vs the blue link era
If AI citations determine what gets included in answers, it’s worth asking how this differs from how search used to work. Because this isn’t just a feature update, it’s a shift in how visibility itself is earned.
In the traditional model, ranking higher meant getting more clicks. In AI-driven search, being selected as a source matters just as much, if not more.
Aspect
Traditional SEO
AI citations
Visibility
Blue links
Ai-generated answers
Traffic
Click-driven
Influence-driven
Authority signal
Backlinks
Credibility and accuracy
User action
Visit website
Consume instant answers
This doesn’t mean traditional SEO is going away. Rankings, indexing, and backlinks still play a critical role. However, how that value gets surfaced is changing. Instead of just competing for position on a results page, you’re now competing to be part of the answer itself.
Do check out Alex Moss’s talk at BrightonSEO, 2025, on the evolution of search intent and discoverability.
Where do AI citations come from?
Before you try to earn AI citations, it’s important to understand where they actually come from. Because you’re not just competing with other blog posts, you’re competing with an entire information ecosystem.
AI models pull their answers from a mix of sources:
Web content: Blog posts, guides, landing pages, and long-form articles
Structured sources: Platforms like Wikipedia, documentation hubs, and product data feeds
Forums and UGC: Discussions from Reddit, Quora, and Stack Overflow
First-party data: Brand websites, help centers, and official resources
How the sources are selected is quite interesting. A recent analysis of Google’s AI Overviews found that citations don’t strictly come from top-ranking pages. In fact, only about 38% of cited sources rank in the top 10 results, meaning a large share comes from deeper pages or alternative formats.
Another key insight by CXL: AI models tend to prioritize clear, early answers within the content, with a significant portion of citations pulled from the top sections of a page rather than from deeper sections.
The takeaway is simple. AI systems are not just ranking content; they are selecting the most useful pieces of information across formats and sources. That means your content is competing not only for rankings but also for clarity, structure, and trustworthiness across this entire ecosystem.
Types of AI citations
Not all AI citations look the same. Depending on the query and intent, AI models pull in different types of sources to support their answers.
Broadly, you’ll see three main types:
Informational citations
These are the most common. AI tools refer to blog posts, guides, and educational content to explain concepts or answer questions. If someone asks, “what are AI citations,” the sources cited will typically be long-form, explanatory content.
Informational citations made by ChatGPT
Product citations
These show up in commercial or comparison queries. For example, “best SEO tools” or “top project management software.” Here, AI models cite product pages, listicles, and review-based content to support recommendations.
Product citations by Google AI mode, the model shares both online and offline options
Multimedia citations
AI doesn’t rely solely on text. Videos, images, and other visual formats can also be cited, especially when they better explain something than text alone. Think tutorials, walkthroughs, or demonstrations.
Multimedia citation for a query by ChatGPT
How AI citations impact brand credibility
AI citations don’t just drive visibility. They shape how your brand is perceived before a user even visits your website.
When your content is cited in an AI-generated answer, some of that trust transfers to your brand. You’re no longer just another result on a page; you’re part of the answer itself. And that changes how users interpret your authority.
This also means buyer decisions are starting earlier. Users may form opinions, shortlist options, or even make decisions directly from AI responses, without ever clicking through. If your brand isn’t cited, you’re not part of that consideration set.
There’s also a strong signal of relevance at play. Being included in AI answers suggests that your content is not just optimized, but genuinely useful in context. It tells both users and algorithms that your brand deserves to be surfaced.
Over time, this creates a compounding effect. The more your content is cited, the more your brand becomes associated with specific topics. That repeated exposure builds familiarity, authority, and trust.
How AI citations work: a complete breakdown
So far, we’ve talked about what AI citations are and where they come from. But how do AI systems actually decide what to cite?
Let’s break it down.
A diagram by AWS showing the conceptual flow of using RAG with LLMs
At a high level, most AI-powered search systems follow a retrieval-and-synthesis process, often powered by approaches such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). In simple terms, they don’t just generate answers; they find, evaluate, and assemble information from multiple sources before deciding what to cite.
Here’s what that process looks like in practice:
1. Query understanding
Everything starts with intent. The AI interprets what the user is really asking, whether it’s informational, navigational, or commercial. This step shapes what kind of sources it will look for.
2. Retrieval of sources
Next, the system pulls in potential sources from multiple places:
Web indexes
Training data patterns
Live retrieval systems (depending on the model)
This is where your content first enters the consideration set.
3. Source evaluation
Not all sources are treated equally. AI models evaluate them based on:
Relevance to the query
Authority and trust signals
Clarity and structure of information
Entity-level trust (how credible the brand or author is)
When you look at these signals closely, they all point in one direction. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) play a central role in determining what gets cited. In other words, AI systems aren’t just looking for answers; they’re looking for reliable sources behind those answers.
4. Answer synthesis
Instead of showing individual links, AI combines insights from multiple sources into a single, cohesive answer. This is where your content may be used, even if it’s not directly cited.
5. Citation selection
Finally, the model decides which sources to:
Explicitly cite (with links or references)
Implicitly use (without direct attribution)
This is the step that ultimately determines your visibility.
How this differs across AI systems
While the core process is similar, different AI tools prioritize different parts of this pipeline.
AI systems
How it handles citations
ChatGPT
Leans more on third-party sources and consensus, such as directories, reviews, and aggregator sites, rather than relying heavily on brand-owned content.
Perplexity
Focuses on retrieval-first behavior, pulling from a wide range of web sources and surfacing multiple citations to support transparency (strong emphasis on external validation).
Gemini
Prioritizes brand-owned and structured content, especially pages that are clearly organized and easy to interpret.
Even though the process is complex, the signals that increase your chances of being cited are surprisingly consistent:
Well-organized structure: Clear headings, bullet points, and logical flow make it easier for AI to extract information
Evidence-based reasoning: Content that references data, sources, or supporting claims is more likely to be trusted
Timeliness and relevance: Fresh, updated content often gets prioritized, especially for evolving topics
Authoritative voice and depth: Content that demonstrates expertise and covers a topic comprehensively stands out
Topical consistency: Brands that consistently publish around a topic are more likely to be recognized as reliable sources
The key takeaway here is simple: AI citations are not random. They are the result of a structured evaluation process in which clarity, trust, and relevance determine who is included in the final answer.
So far, we’ve looked at what AI citations are and how models decide what to cite. The next question is the one that matters most: how do you actually get cited?
Because this isn’t just about creating content, it’s about sending the right signals that your content is worth citing. Here are some strategies that can help you do exactly that:
1. Create citation-friendly content
Citation-worthy content goes beyond surface-level answers. It offers original thinking, clear explanations, and real value, helping AI models support their responses with confidence. In other words, it’s not just optimized, it earns references by being genuinely useful.
The following content types consistently get cited by AI models:
Content type
What to write
Why AI loves them
Original research
Studies or data that answer new or unexplored questions
Gives AI concrete evidence to support claims
Case studies
Real-world examples showing how something works in practice
Helps AI justify recommendations with proof
Thought leadership
Opinion-led content with unique insights or perspectives
Adds depth and diversity to AI-generated answers
News content
Timely, accurate coverage of recent developments
Fills gaps where training data falls short
2. Build topical authority (clusters)
AI models don’t just evaluate individual pages; they evaluate how consistently you cover a topic.
If you publish multiple pieces on a specific subject, each addressing different aspects, you signal depth, expertise, and reliability. That’s what topical authority is all about.
And this is where E-E-A-T naturally comes into play. The more consistently you demonstrate experience and expertise in a niche, the more likely your content is to be trusted and cited.
What to do in practice:
Create clusters around a core topic (pillar page/cornerstone content + supporting content)
Cover both broad and specific questions in your niche
Go beyond basic answers, add expert insights, examples, or real-world context
Keep your messaging and terminology consistent across content
AI systems evaluate content, but they also evaluate who is behind it.
Strong entity signals help models understand your brand, your authors, and your credibility within a topic. The clearer these signals are, the easier it is for AI to trust and cite your content.
What to do in practice:
Build clear author profiles with expertise and credentials
Maintain consistent brand mentions across your site and the web
Use structured data (schema) to define authors, organizations, and content relationships
Ensure your “About” and author pages clearly establish credibility
4. Earn external validation signals across the web
AI models don’t rely on a single source of truth. They validate information by cross-referencing multiple sources across the web.
That means your credibility isn’t built only on your website. It’s shaped by how consistently your brand shows up across trusted platforms. The more aligned and authoritative those signals are, the easier it is for AI systems to trust and cite your content.
Think of this as building a web-wide validation layer that reinforces your brand through multiple independent sources.
This is also where traditional SEO practices like link building evolve. It’s no longer just about backlinks, but about earning consistent, high-quality mentions that strengthen your entity across the web.
What to do in practice:
Contribute insights to reputable publications in your niche
Earn consistent mentions across industry blogs, directories, and review platforms
Be active in communities like Reddit, Quora, or niche forums
Run digital PR campaigns that reinforce your brand narrative across sources
5. Keep content fresh and updated
AI models prefer content that reflects current information.
Outdated content is less likely to be trusted, especially for topics that evolve quickly. Regular updates signal that your content is still relevant and reliable.
What to do in practice:
Refresh key articles with updated data, examples, and insights
Add new sections instead of rewriting from scratch where possible
AI models don’t read content the way humans do. They extract answers.
Most AI-generated responses are built by identifying clear, concise answer blocks within content. And increasingly, users prefer this format. In fact, according to a poll by IWAI, 67% of users find AI tools more efficient than traditional search for getting answers. That shift makes one thing clear: if your content doesn’t directly answer questions, it’s less likely to be surfaced or cited.
This means it’s not enough to include answers. You need to structure your content so those answers are easy to find, interpret, and reuse.
What to do in practice:
Lead sections with direct, concise answers before expanding
Use headings that mirror real user queries and intent
Break down complex topics into scannable, extractable sections
Add summaries, definitions, or key takeaways at the start of sections
Anticipate follow-up questions and answer them within the same content
Tracking AI brand presence with Yoast
By now, we know what AI citations are, how they work, and how to earn them. But here’s the real question: how do you know if you’re already being cited? And if not, how do you understand where your competitors are showing up and where you’re missing out?
As AI-generated answers become a key discovery layer, most traditional analytics tools fall short. They can tell you about traffic, but not whether your brand is being mentioned, how it’s being perceived, or which sources AI systems trust when referencing you. That’s a critical blind spot, especially as AI answers increasingly shape user decisions before a click even occurs.
Yoast AI Brand Insights helps you track and understand your AI visibility, citations, and brand mentions across platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, so you can move from guesswork to informed action.
Here’s what it enables you to do:
Sentiment tracking
Understand how your brand is being perceived in AI-generated answers. The tool analyzes keywords associated with your brand and shows whether the overall sentiment is positive or negative, helping you spot tone issues and shifts over time.
Citation analysis (brand mentions)
See when and where your brand is being cited. More importantly, understand which sources AI platforms reference alongside your brand, so you can identify citation gaps and opportunities to improve your presence.
Competitor benchmarking
See how you stack up against other brands mentioned in your prompts
AI visibility is relative. This feature lets you compare your brand’s citations, mentions, and sentiment against competitors, helping you understand who is being surfaced more often and why.
Question monitoring
AI search is driven by queries. With question monitoring, you can track specific brand-related or industry questions and see whether your brand appears in the answers, giving you direct insight into where you’re visible and where you’re missing.
AI visibility index
See your score, which is a representation of different AI signals
Instead of looking at isolated metrics, Yoast combines signals like citations, mentions, sentiment, and rankings into a single visibility score. This gives you a clearer picture of how your brand performs across AI systems over time.
The bigger picture here is simple: Yoast AI Brand Insights helps you understand your position in this new ecosystem, so you can strengthen your presence, close gaps, and ensure your brand is part of the answers your audience is already consuming.
FAQs on AI citations
AI citations can feel complex at first, especially as search continues to evolve. Here are answers to some of the most common questions to help you navigate them better.
Are backlinks different from AI citations?
Yes, they serve different purposes. Backlinks help your pages rank in traditional search, while AI citations determine whether your content gets included in AI-generated answers. In short, backlinks drive visibility on SERPs, while citations drive visibility within answers.
No, AI systems don’t always include citations. When responses are generated purely from pre-trained knowledge rather than retrieved sources, citations may not appear.
To test this, I tried the following prompts on ChatGPT:
Out of these, citations appeared in about half of the responses.
A clear pattern emerged:
Queries involving products, recommendations, statistics, or recent events were more likely to trigger citations
Queries focused on definitions or general knowledge often did not include citations
This shows that citation behavior depends heavily on the query type, intent, and context. Not every answer requires a source, but the more specific or evidence-driven the query, the more likely citations are to appear.
How do I direct AI models to the most important content on my website?
You can’t directly control what AI models choose to cite, but you can make it easier for them to understand and prioritize your content.
One effective way to do this is by using llms.txt, a feature in Yoast SEO. It creates a structured, LLM-friendly markdown file that highlights your most important pages, helping LLMs better understand your site when generating answers.
A smarter analysis in Yoast SEO Premium
Yoast SEO Premium has a smart content analysis that helps you take your content to the next level!
Think of it as a way to clearly communicate which content matters most, so when AI systems look for reliable sources, your key pages are easier to interpret and surface.
AI citations: The currency of the AI-driven web
AI citations are changing how users discover and trust information. They don’t just complement rankings; they reshape them by deciding which sources become part of the answer itself. In many cases, users no longer need to click to explore. If your content is cited, you’re visible. If not, you’re invisible.
This shift also changes what we optimize for. It’s no longer just about traffic; it’s about trust, relevance, and inclusion in the answer layer. As we explored in our recent read, Rethinking SEO in the age of AI, the central question for SEO is evolving. It’s no longer just, “Can Google find my website?” It’s now, “Does the AI have a reason to remember my brand?”
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2026-03-30 14:31:172026-03-30 14:31:17AI citations explained: how they work and how to get them
The March 2026 SEO Update by Yoast is part of our monthly webinar series covering the latest developments in search and AI. Hosted by Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss, this month’s session explored how AI is reshaping search, Google’s latest moves, and what brands should prioritize now.
AI is moving beyond standalone apps, integrating into messaging platforms (like Claude’s Telegram/Discord support) and desktop environments (e.g., Meta’s My Computer). This shift makes AI more accessible but also blurs the lines between search and daily tools.
Why it matters: Brands must ensure their content is discoverable across multiple surfaces, not just traditional search engines.
Actionable takeaway:
Optimize for conversational queries and structured data to improve visibility in AI-driven tools.
Google’s patent for AI-generated landing pages
Google filed a patent describing a system that replaces traditional SERPs with AI-generated landing pages. This could signal the end of the “10 blue links” era, forcing brands to rethink how they measure visibility.
Why it matters: If Google shifts to AI-generated pages, traditional ranking metrics may become less relevant. Brands will need to control their narrative across multiple sources to ensure accuracy in AI responses.
Actionable takeaway:
Audit your content for clarity and structure (e.g., avoid excessive JavaScript, use clear headings).
Diversify your presence beyond your website (e.g., social media, YouTube, newsletters) to reinforce authority.
Markdown as a preferred format for AI
Markdown is gaining traction as a lightweight, AI-friendly format. WordPress.org now offers Markdown versions of pages, and tools like Cloudflare’s crawl endpoint make it easier for AI to parse content efficiently.
Why it matters: While Google downplays Markdown’s importance, other AI tools may rely on it for grounding responses. Simplifying your content structure could improve visibility in AI-driven search.
Actionable takeaway:
Consider offering Markdown versions of key pages (e.g., FAQs, product descriptions) to help AI extract content.
Avoid hiding critical information in images or complex JavaScript, as AI may not process it efficiently.
Google Search Console adds branded vs. non-branded filter
Google Search Console now includes a filter to separate branded and non-branded queries. This helps brands identify confusion in search intent and optimize accordingly.
Why it matters: If non-branded queries drive traffic, it may signal an opportunity to refine messaging or target new audiences.
Actionable takeaway:
Use the filter to identify gaps in your content strategy (e.g., if branded queries dominate, expand into non-branded topics).
Monitor for unexpected branded queries, which may indicate confusion or misalignment with user intent.
Google Maps integrates AI for search
Google Maps is testing an AI-powered chat feature that lets users ask questions (e.g., “Find a Starbucks on my route”). Early feedback suggests it’s not yet as accurate as traditional search, but this could evolve quickly.
Why it matters: AI-driven local search could change how users discover businesses, making it critical to optimize for conversational queries.
Actionable takeaway:
Ensure your Google Business Profile is up to date with accurate hours, locations, and services.
Use natural language in your content to align with how users phrase questions.
Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) expands
Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard for AI-driven e-commerce, added new features like cart management, catalog search, and identity linking (for loyalty programs). This aims to streamline shopping within AI platforms.
Why it matters: UCP could become a standard for AI-powered commerce, making it essential for e-commerce brands to adopt early.
Actionable takeaway:
Explore UCP integration to improve visibility in AI-driven shopping experiences.
Optimize product schema and ensure your Merchant Center data is accurate.
Zero-click search doesn’t mean zero influence
Rand Fishkin’s keynote at the Industrial Marketing Summit highlighted that while zero-click searches are rising, brands can still influence AI responses by maintaining a strong, consistent presence across multiple platforms.
Why it matters: AI relies on corroborating signals (e.g., repeated mentions of your brand across trusted sources) to validate information. A single website isn’t enough, so you need a multi-channel strategy.
Actionable takeaway:
Repurpose content across platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, Substack, YouTube) to reinforce your brand’s authority.
Ensure your messaging is consistent across all channels to improve AI’s confidence in your content.
What to focus on in 2026
The March 2026 update highlighted several priorities for search strategy:
Optimize for AI-driven search: Use structured data, clear headings, and consistent messaging to improve visibility in AI responses.
Build brand authority across channels: Diversify your presence beyond your website to reinforce your narrative in AI-generated content.
Prepare for agentic commerce: Adopt protocols like UCP and optimize product schema for AI-powered shopping.
Avoid low-quality AI-generated content: Focus on high-value, human-centric content that aligns with user intent.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2026-03-27 09:02:132026-03-27 09:02:13The March 2026 SEO Update by Yoast recap
