Is AI search replacing Google?

Not replacing — competing. Google remains dominant for commercial queries and transactional searches. AI search is growing fastest for discovery, comparisons, and recommendation queries — specifically the types of queries where people want a recommendation rather than a list. For local services, AI recommendations are replacing some searches that would have previously ended with a Google Maps click.

How do AI search engines decide what to recommend?

They weigh several factors: consistency of business information across sources, volume and quality of reviews, the specificity and structure of website content, and mentions in third-party publications and directories. No single factor is determinative, but review volume and consistency have the highest correlation with AI citation frequency in our testing.

Do I need to be on every AI platform to be visible?

No. The underlying signals — structured website content, reviews, consistent citations, and entity information — are shared across most AI platforms. Building a strong foundation for one platform lifts your visibility across all of them. The signal set is the same; the weighting differs slightly by platform.

Is AI search only relevant for consumer queries, or also for B2B?

Both. B2B buyers use AI search platforms to research vendors, compare service providers, and identify specialists. A procurement manager asking 'best project management software for construction firms' in ChatGPT is doing the same type of AI-mediated discovery as a homeowner asking 'best roofer in Calgary'. The queries look different; the mechanism is the same.

✦ AI Visibility

What Is AI Search?

AI search engines generate answers directly, rather than returning a list of links for users to click through. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude all belong to this category. Instead of ranking pages, they synthesize information from multiple sources and present a single response.

The difference matters for businesses because the old model — rank on page one, get traffic — breaks down when users never reach a results page. A person who asks ChatGPT for a recommended contractor in Edmonton may receive a name and a reason why that contractor was selected. They act on that recommendation without opening a browser search.

AI search engines train on text from the web, structured data, directories, and review platforms. The businesses that appear in AI-generated answers are the ones whose information is consistent, structured, and widely corroborated across multiple sources. Businesses that rely solely on Google ranking are missing an increasingly significant share of early-stage queries.

ChatGPT

Highest

Uses web browsing via Bing and its training data. Favours businesses with consistent reviews, structured website content, and mentions across credible sources.

Perplexity

Highest

Real-time web search with citation links. Favours sources with clear, direct answers to questions — schema markup and FAQ content perform well here.

Google AI Overviews

High

Generated answers at the top of Google search results. Pulls from Google Business Profile, structured data, and high-authority pages the index already trusts.

Claude

Medium

Anthropic's AI assistant with periodic web access. Relies heavily on training data and named citations. Brand mentions in industry publications increase visibility.

✦ FAQs

Questions about what is ai search?

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Find out where AI ranks your business

We test your business across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews for the queries your clients actually use.