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Helping Global Heads of Marketing, CMOs, and Enterprise Leaders understand and adapt to the emerging AI-powered search ecosystem.

CMOs: Google Just Confirmed Your Brand Visibility Strategy Needs to Change

Search is being rebuilt around AI. If your brand isn't showing up, it's time to rethink how you're found.

By Sophie Carr - Founder and CEO, GAIO Marketing

Image of two serene faces joined by a central root system, each half cracked to reveal new growth. This visual metaphor captures how brand teams must evolve together to build a presence in AI search—guided by shared truth and deep structure. Commissioned by Sophie Carr for GAIO Marketing.

TLDR

A recently released U.S. Department of Justice court document confirms Google is rebuilding its search engine to centre around large language models (LLMs). This is not a tweak. It’s a ground-up rethink of how search works, from how pages are ranked, to how results are retrieved and displayed.

If your content visibility strategy still relies solely on traditional SEO, you're optimising for an older system that Google is actively replacing. At GAIO Marketing, we've been helping brands adapt to this shift since 2022. And with AI shaping how decisions are made, now is the moment to get ahead.

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  1. What Google Just Confirmed About the Future of Brand Visibility

In May 2025, a document surfaced during the U.S. DOJ's antitrust case against Google, featuring an internal interview with Pandu Nayak, Google’s Vice President of Search. He stated:

“Google is currently re-thinking their search stack from the ground-up with LLM taking a more prominent role. They are thinking about how fundamental components of search (ranking, retrieval, displaying SERP) can be reimagined given the availability of LLMs.” - DOJ Trial Exhibit PXR0357

That means traditional ranking methods, like keywords, backlinks, and metadata, are no longer the only signals. Google is now designing for a world where AI delivers the answer, not a list of results.

  1. Why CMOs Are Paying Attention to AI-Driven Discovery

If you're a CMO, this directly affects how your audience finds and trusts your brand.

Buyers are no longer just typing in search terms. They're asking questions to tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Copilot, and those tools are deciding which brands to cite.

In these AI-native environments, visibility depends on whether you're recognised as the best answer. If you're not showing up there, you're missing out at the exact moment decisions are being shaped.

  1. The signals That Led Here

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. The shift has been building for a while.

  • In February 2024, Gartner predicted that traditional search engine volume will drop 25 percent by 2026 due to the rise of AI tools.

  • In March 2025, Adobe Analytics reported a 1200 percent increase in traffic from generative AI tools to US retail websites in just one year.

  • Google already uses AI models like RankBrain, DeepRank, and RankEmbed BERT, all trained on user click and query data. These are not side experiments — they are live components shaping what shows up in search.

The writing has been on the wall. Now it’s in court documents.

  1. How to Evolve Your Visibility Strategy for AI Search

Traditional SEO gets your content listed as a blue link. Generative AI Optimisation (GAIO) helps your brand get cited as a part of an answer to a question your audience is asking AI right now. To win you need to create meaningful content that humans and AI learn from, save for later and share with others.

To be found in this new system, your content needs to:

  • Answer high-intent, natural-language questions

  • Use structure and formatting that AI can interpret

  • Include authorship and sources that build trust

  • Be connected to your brand’s topical authority

  • Be designed for summarisation, not just for search

This is not about adding more content. It's about creating the kind of content that AI sees as useful, reliable and clear.

  1. What GAIO Marketing Has Proven About Strategic Visibility

At GAIO, we've been solving this problem since 2022. We help CMOs and marketing teams:

  • Identify the real questions their audience are asking AI

  • Audit their current visibility in AI-generated responses and create brand intelligence reports

  • Create a strategic content plan to increase trust, clarity and relevance

  • Track brand visibility in AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity

  • Refine their strategy and apply new learnings we know are working in other industries

One global enterprise saw measurable improvements in AI visibility within 30 days. The results were clear. And repeatable.

  1. Where to Begin: Building Your AI Visibility Strategy Now

If you're still relying only on SEO dashboards, you're not seeing the full picture. Start here:

  1. Write down five questions your ideal buyer might ask an AI tool during their decision process

  2. Check whether your brand is showing up in those answers

  3. Take one key page and rewrite it with that question as the heading

  4. Structure the answer so it's clear, concise and backed by sources

  5. Monitor changes in AI visibility, not just your position in Google SERPs

Need help? That’s what GAIO Marketing was built for.

  1. FAQs: Your Most Pressing Questions on SEO, GAIO and AI Search

Is SEO dead?

No. But it’s no longer the whole story. SEO gets you listed. GAIO helps you get quoted.

Do we need a big tech stack change?

No. This is primarily about strategy and structure. The right changes can be implemented quickly with your existing team.

Is this only for tech companies?

Not at all. We work with financial services, retail, B2B SaaS and others. If your customers are using AI to evaluate options, it applies to you.

How fast can we expect results?

Our clients have seen measurable visibility gains in 30 days when the right changes are made. It depends on your current footprint.

Is this a one-off project?

No. It’s an ongoing capability. But you can get started with one smart pilot and build from there.

Search is changing. Google has confirmed it.

Buyers have already moved. Now your brand needs to show up where decisions begin.

Why Generative AI Optimisation (GAIO) Marketing Is the Future of Search and Why It Matters Right Now

By Sophie Carr, Founder of GAIO Marketing

An artistic image of a human eye with a vibrant green iris, surrounded by blooming white and yellow flowers, symbolising organic visibility and digital awareness. The eye represents how large language models like ChatGPT and Google Gemini perceive content on the web - not through clicks, but through structured understanding. This floral composition visually metaphorises Generative AI Optimisation (GAIO), showing how brands must grow content that is not just beautiful, but visible to AI systems. Created by Sophie Carr at GAIO Marketing, this image represents the shift from traditional SEO to AI-first visibility strategies, helping brands rank in AI-powered search engines like Microsoft Copilot, Bard, and ChatGPT. Learn how to train the AI to see you at www.gaio-marketing.com.

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If you’ve been wondering whether to focus on SEO, AEO, AIO, GEO, or GAIO to rank in AI search, you’re not alone. CMOs, SEO managers, and content strategists are all facing the same question:

What actually gets you seen in AI search results?

Let’s make it simple.

GAIO (Generative AI Optimisation) is the answer.

At GAIO Marketing, we specialise in helping businesses become visible, cited, and recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard (now Gemini), and Microsoft Copilot.

Why? Because the way people search has changed.

  1. The Rise of AI Search

The recent Adobe Analytics 2025 report found a 1,200% surge in AI-driven website traffic. Even more impressive? Visitors from generative AI tools:

  • Spend 8% more time on site

  • View 12% more pages per visit

  • Bounce 23% less than traditional search traffic

And in banking, AI-referred users spend 45% more time browsing than visitors from regular search.

This is not just about more traffic. It’s about better traffic.

  1. What Is Generative AI Optimisation (GAIO)?

GAIO stands for Generative AI Optimisation.

It’s a new layer of marketing that makes your content visible in the world of Large Language Models (LLMs). These are the brains behind tools like ChatGPT. Instead of ranking on a list of blue links, your brand gets quoted, summarised, or recommended inside an AI-generated response.

Our job at GAIO Marketing is to help you show up when someone asks ChatGPT, "What’s the best B2B software for remote teams?" or "Which bank has the best customer service in Europe?"

  1. So What Happens If You Ignore GAIO?

If your content isn’t optimised for AI, it might get overlooked entirely. You risk:

  • Lower visibility in AI-powered discovery tools

  • Missing out on high-intent traffic

  • Falling behind competitors already training the algorithms to prefer their content

This is especially true in sectors like finance, tech, healthcare, and education, where trust and authority matter most.

  1. Why GAIO Marketing?

I'm Sophie Carr, and I founded GAIO Marketing to help businesses transition from traditional SEO into the AI-first world.

We offer:

  • End-to-end AI powered GAIO marketing software

  • GAIO Training for Teams

  • AI-Optimised Content Strategies

  • Custom GPTs and Tools

  • Full-Stack GAIO Strategy Support

  • AI Visibility Audits

Our approach is built on a clear mission: to make sure your brand is not just searchable, but discoverable by AI.

  1. Is GAIO Legit?

Absolutely. And it's not just about the tech - it's about staying competitive.

You don’t need to ditch SEO. In fact, GAIO works with it. But you do need to evolve.

We're helping businesses align with how search actually works in 2025.

  1. Final Thought: This Isn’t a Trend

This is a permanent shift in how search works.

And if you’re still on the fence, ask yourself:

When someone types a question into ChatGPT, do you want your brand to be the one it mentions?

If the answer is yes, it's time to talk GAIO.

Want to learn more about how GAIO Marketing can help your business?

Reach out directly at info@gaio-marketing.com.

  1. GAIO FAQs

How is GAIO different from traditional SEO and AEO, and do we need all three?

GAIO focuses on ranking in AI tools like ChatGPT, while SEO targets Google, and AEO focuses on voice and featured snippets. You need all three. SEO gets you seen in search, AEO gets you quoted, and GAIO gets you recommended by AI.

How do we measure success in GAIO, what KPIs actually matter?

Track AI citations, branded mentions in tools like ChatGPT or Gemini, AI-driven traffic, and LLM visibility scores. Engagement metrics like time on site, bounce rate, and conversions from AI-sourced traffic also reveal GAIO performance.

Which AI platforms should we focus on ranking in first, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot?

Start with ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot - they dominate enterprise usage and decision-making flows. Gemini is key for Google-aligned visibility. Prioritise based on your market's AI adoption and how your buyers search today.

Can GAIO be scaled across regions, languages, and business units?

Yes, GAIO scales with structured frameworks. Focus on translatable schema, localised entities, and consistent AI-friendly formatting. It requires training and content governance but works globally across regions and verticals.

What does our current content need to change to be GAIO-ready?

Most content needs restructuring—not rewriting. Prioritise clarity, consistent naming conventions, semantic organisation, and factual authority. Add FAQs, citations, and trainable patterns AI can understand and reuse.

How do we future-proof our brand for AI-first search trends in 2025 and beyond?

Embed GAIO into your content lifecycle. Train your team in AI visibility principles, use GAIO tech, monitor AI mentions, and treat AI as a new distribution channel. Brands that teach the AI models now will win the narrative tomorrow.

What is the right term for ranking in AI search? GAIO vs AIO vs AEO vs SEO vs GEO (let’s clear it up)

By Sophie Carr, GAIO Marketing

A surreal depiction of AI-generated knowledge trees forming a digital forest, symbolizing the growth and evolution of artificial intelligence in search and discovery. This AI art was created by Sophie Carr, founder of GAIO Marketing.

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If SEO helps you rank in Google, what helps you rank in ChatGPT?

That's the question I get asked the most by marketing leaders right now, especially those already confident with SEO.

And I get it. The jargon around AI marketing is confusing. Some people say it's GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation). Others say it's AIO or AEO. I say: it's time we simplified the terminology and got aligned.

So, in this blog, I’m going to answer your questions.

  1. What is GAIO?

GAIO stands for Generative AI Optimisation. It’s about making your content more visible in generative AI tools like:

These platforms don’t work like Google Search. They don’t show 10 blue links. Instead, they summarise, remix, and rewrite the internet to generate responses to user queries.

So if your content isn’t optimised for the way LLMs (large language models) read, understand, and cite information, then it gets left out.

GAIO ensures your content is:

  • Structured clearly

  • Backed by reliable sources

  • Easy for AI models to parse (understand)

  • Factually accurate and coherent

Want to go deeper into the GAIO Strategy? I break it down here: How to Rank in AI: The GAIO Strategy

  1. Why is GAIO so important right now?

Because AI is already changing how people discover brands.

A new Adobe Analytics report (2025) revealed that traffic to U.S. retail websites from generative AI sources jumped 1,200% in the last year alone.

Let that sink in.

We’re witnessing a massive shift in how consumers find and interact with content. AI tools are no longer just novelty chatbots; they’re full-blown discovery engines.

That means:

  • Buyers are asking ChatGPT what to buy.

  • Parents are asking Gemini what snacks to pack.

  • CMOs are asking Claude how to plan their 2025 GTM strategy.

If you’re not optimising your content for AI, you’re missing out on a rapidly growing channel. And worse: you’re letting someone else get cited as the authority in your space.

  1. Wait, isn’t GAIO just SEO?

Not exactly.

SEO = Optimising for search engines. Think keywords, backlinks, load speed, and mobile usability. It works to help you rank in traditional engines like Google and Bing.

GAIO = Optimising for LLMs. Think clarity, citations, entity-based structure, AI-trainable formatting, and question-led content.

They work together - but they target different algorithms.

  1. What is AEO?

AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation. It’s a bridge between SEO and GAIO.

Answer engines (like Google’s Featured Snippets, Knowledge Panels, and even Alexa or Siri) aim to give answers instead of showing links.

AEO ensures your content shows up as:

  • Featured snippets

  • FAQs

  • Rich cards

  • Voice assistant results

So think of it this way:

  • SEO = Gets you into the top of search results

  • AEO = Gets you directly quoted by answer-based engines

  • GAIO = Gets you summarised, cited, and included in AI-generated responses

All three are valuable, but they are not interchangeable.

  1. What are all these AI terms people throw around?

To fully understand GAIO, we need to understand the history of artificial inteligence.

AI Terminology Explained: This AI knowledge graphic by GAIO Marketing visually breaks down the evolution of artificial intelligence, starting from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Machine Learning (ML), Neural Networks (NN), and Deep Learning (DL). It highlights key AI advancements like Transformers, Generative AI (GenAI), Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), and Large Language Models (LLMs), leading to GPT-4.5 and ChatGPT. Understanding these terms is crucial for AI search optimization, GAIO (Generative AI Optimization), and ranking in AI-powered search. Learn more at www.gaio-marketing.com and stay ahead in AI-driven marketing, content creation, and SEO strategies.

The evolution of AI: How we got to ChatGPT and GAIO

AI has transformed from basic rule-based systems to powerful chat platforms that drive marketing, business, and education. Each stage of AI development solved a limitation from the previous one, leading to the technology we use today.

This guide breaks down the evolution of AI step by step.

  1. 1956 - AI starts (basic rules-based AI)

🤖 What happened? A group of brilliant minds, including John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, and Claude Shannon, got together at the Dartmouth Conference to brainstorm a radical idea - machines that could think. AI was officially born!

❌ Limitation: Couldn’t learn or improve, only followed fixed rules.

🔜 Leads to: Machine Learning (ML), allowing AI to learn patterns from data instead of relying on rigid programming.

  1. 1980s - Machine learning (AI starts learning)

📊 What happened? Instead of just following rules, AI could now learn from data! This meant AI could spot patterns, like detecting fraud in banking or recognising handwritten numbers.

❌ Limitation: Still needed humans to manually select features (e.g., deciding what makes an email spam).

🔜 Leads to: Neural Networks (NN), automating feature selection and improving pattern recognition.

  1. 1990s - Neural Networks (AI Mimics the Brain)

🧠 What happened? Scientists like Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio brought Neural Networks back into the spotlight, helping AI recognise faces, speech, and objects - big wins for early Face ID and voice assistants.

❌ Limitation: Too shallow and early networks couldn’t handle complex real-world data.

🔜 Leads to: Deep Learning (DL), stacking multiple layers for more advanced learning.

  1. 2010s - Deep Learning (AI gets super smart)

🚗 What happened? Deep Learning revolutionised AI! Suddenly, AI could drive cars (Tesla Autopilot), translate languages (Google Translate), and even detect diseases from medical scans.

❌ Limitation: AI still forgot things easily and couldn’t handle long conversations.

🔜 Leads to: Transformers, a breakthrough that allowed AI to process entire sentences at once.

  1. 2017 - Transformers (AI understands language)

🔄 What happened? A team at Google, led by researchers Ashish Vaswani, Jakob Uszkoreit, and Noam Shazeer, developed the Transformer model. This was a game-changer (sorry for the buzzword but it's true)! AI could now process entire sentences all at once, rather than word by word.

❌ Limitation: AI could understand text but couldn’t generate natural human-like responses.

🔜 Leads to: Generative AI (GenAI), where AI could now create text, images, and videos.

  1. 2020 - Generative AI (AI starts creating)

✍️ What happened? AI got creative! It began writing blogs, generating images, and even composing music. OpenAI, led by Sam Altman, launched GPT-3, a massive AI model trained on 175 billion parameters. Other big players like Google DeepMind joined the race.

🖌 First Big Tools: Early advancements like GPT-3 gained attention mostly in tech circles but weren’t widely accessible. Tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and DALL·E didn’t reach the public until later, in 2022, when user-friendly interfaces became available.

❌ Limitation: Early models often produced inaccuracies (hallucinations) and couldn’t recall past conversations. Accessibility and security concerns also delayed broader adoption initially.

🔜 Leads to: Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT), which enhanced text generation, creativity, and reliability.

  1. 2021 - Large Language Models (LLMs) make AI smarter

📚 What happened? GPT models like GPT-3 set new benchmarks for AI. They improved reasoning, handled complex queries, and maintained longer conversations. By 2021, advancements in these models were paving the way for broader applications.

❌ Limitation: Early models weren’t user-friendly and required technical expertise, making them inaccessible for most people.

🔜 Leads to: The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 provided an easy-to-use chatbot interface, making AI accessible to everyone and changing how people interact with technology.

  1. 2022-Present - ChatGPT (AI for Everyone)

💬 What Happened? OpenAI built on its GPT model, a powerful AI capable of generating human-like text, but it needed a platform where people could actually use it. That’s when ChatGPT was born, making AI accessible to everyone, even without technical expertise.

That’s when they created ChatGPT, the platform we all know and love today, making AI accessible to everyone, even without technical knowledge.

💡 Difference Between ChatGPT and GPT-4.5:

  • GPT-4.5 is the “brain” powering the responses - a Large Language Model (LLM) designed for advanced reasoning and text generation.

  • ChatGPT is the “mouth” - a simple and intuitive platform that lets anyone use GPT-4.5 for writing, research, marketing, and business tasks.

🚀 Breakthrough Moment: AI moved beyond research labs and became a mainstream tool for businesses, education, and content creation, powering everything from SEO and AI search visibility to customer support and content marketing.

  1. Why it’s called GAIO marketing (and not the other terms)

So, why GAIO Marketing? Why not AIO, GEO, or just SEO for AI?

Because the real shift happened with Generative AI (GenAI). That’s when AI stopped just analysing and started creating.

Before 2020, AI could recognise faces, detect spam, and even predict the next word in a sentence. But it couldn’t write an article, generate an image, or compose a song—until Generative AI came along.

And here’s the key: we’re not optimising for self-driving cars, facial recognition, or industrial robotics. Those are AI, but they’re not Generative AI. We care about optimising for AI that creates text. That’s why GAIO (Generative AI Optimisation) is about ranking in AI-generated responses, not just traditional search.

That’s what made tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Google Gemini possible. And that’s exactly why it’s called Generative AI Optimisation (GAIO)—because we’re optimising for the AI that actually creates content, not just the AI that ranks websites like Google Search.

If AI is rewriting the internet, then GAIO is how you make sure your brand, business, or content gets included in that rewrite.

That’s the future of marketing. That’s GAIO.

  1. What are the benefits of optimising for LLMs — and can I afford to wait?

It’s a fair question: is this urgent, or can we treat GAIO like another marketing trend and put it on next year’s roadmap?

Here’s the reality:

Delaying GAIO could cost you visibility, leads, and authority.

The longer you wait, the more your competitors train the models to recognise their content, their language, and theirauthority. And once those models are trained, it takes significant effort (and often, time) to shift their preferences.

The benefits of acting now and ranking in AI search:

  • AI model familiarity: The sooner your content appears in AI outputs, the more likely it is to be reused.

  • Early mover advantage: LLMs reward clear, structured, consistent sources. The earlier you show up, the more weight you carry.

  • High-quality traffic: According to Adobe Analytics (2025), visitors arriving from AI-generated results spend 35% more time on site and convert 17% more often than those from traditional search. This isn’t just new traffic — it’s better traffic.

  • Reduced content waste: GAIO helps your existing content work harder, by preparing it for how AI assistants surface information.

Bottom line: Optimising for LLMs isn't just smart - it’s becoming essential.

The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time? Now.

  1. Final Thoughts on AI Search

If you’re trying to rank in AI, you can’t rely on old SEO tactics alone. You need to optimise your content for how AI thinks, not just how humans search.

That’s what GAIO is all about.

Let’s stop mixing up the terms and start using the right strategies. Because the future of content visibility? It’s being written by AI.

Sophie Carr, Founder of GAIO Marketing and an expert in ranking in AI search. She is standing in an office smiling at the camera with the forest outside.

  1. About the Author

Sophie Carr is the founder of GAIO Marketing and an expert in ranking in AI search.

She helps enterprises transition from traditional SEO to AI search optimisation with the tools, training, and services needed to secure authority in AI-powered search engines like Chat GPT, Grok and Microsoft Copilot.

Her newest tech is end to end AI-powered marketing software designed to help you rank in AI search. Grow your knowledge forest and be the answer in AI search.

If you want to know more then contact us via email at: info@gaio-marketing.com

  1. Disclaimer:

This blog is written based on industry experience, observations, and available data as of 2025. The landscape of generative AI and search is rapidly evolving, and marketers should stay up to date with the latest developments. 

The information in this article is for educational purposes only. While GAIO Marketing techniques improve AI search visibility, results may vary based on market competition and AI algorithm updates.

This blog was written with the assistance of AI tools for structuring, research, and clarity. The core insights, strategies, and expertise are entirely Sophie Carr’s original thought leadership. AI was used as an efficiency tool, much like a spellchecker or a literacy calculator, to streamline content creation while preserving authenticity.

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