From SEO to GEO: How Brand Positioning Is Changing in the AI Era
From SEO to GEO: why brand positioning today happens inside AI-generated answers
Search is becoming conversational: users no longer receive a list of links, but a synthesized recommendation. In this context, visibility gives way to a new strategic issue: how AI describes, evaluates, and recommends a brand. HT&T’s AI & Marketing Observatory was created to measure this algorithmic reputation and to guide a continuous AEO and GEO strategy, just as SEO once did.
From visibility to recommendation
For more than twenty years, digital marketing has relied on a clear compass: visibility. Being found, appearing at the top of results, intercepting explicit demand. SEO has been the primary tool for occupying this space, optimizing content and structures to align with search engine logic.
Today, this scenario is rapidly changing. A growing share of searches no longer goes through a list of results, but through conversational interaction. Users are not just looking for information — they are asking for advice. And they do so by turning directly to Artificial Intelligence systems such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity.
The shift is subtle but radical: brands no longer compete to be clicked, but to be recommended or mentioned. When a user asks an AI which car to buy, which software to adopt, or which brand to avoid, they do not receive ten alternatives to compare. They receive a synthesized, often assertive answer that filters, simplifies, and guides the decision. At that moment, brand reputation is no longer mediated by a SERP, but by a narrative generated by AI.
This is where the need arises to rethink the very concept of positioning: a brand is not simply “present” or “absent,” but can be present in the right way or the wrong way, within a context that accelerates or blocks the user’s choice.
When a user asks an Artificial Intelligence for advice, they are not searching for information but delegating a decision.AI & Marketing Observatory – HT&T
Algorithmic reputation: what really changes
LLMs do not work like traditional search engines. They do not retrieve information, they synthesize it. They absorb content from websites, editorial articles, technical documentation, forums, reviews, and institutional sources, and build a probabilistic representation of brands. When they answer a question, they are not displaying sources; they are expressing a judgment.
This judgment is contextual (it depends on the question and usage scenario), synthetic (it removes nuances and complexity deemed irrelevant), and, above all, authoritative for the end user. If at that moment AI presents you as a “solid choice” or a “best buy,” you enter the customer’s mental shortlist. If it ignores you or cites you negatively, you lose relevance precisely when the decision is being formed.
AI-generated answers are not neutral: they are synthesized judgments that shape choice even before comparison.AI & Marketing Observatory
The implication is clear: algorithmic reputation becomes a strategic asset. Not because it replaces real market performance, but because it conditions access to consideration — and therefore to intent. In other words, it does not measure “how much you sell,” but strongly influences “whether you will be considered.”
The great blind spot of contemporary marketing
Today, companies track with great precision what happens within their digital ecosystems: traffic, conversions, campaign performance, SEO rankings. Yet they rarely can answer a crucial question: what does Artificial Intelligence say about our brand when a potential customer asks for advice?
This is the blind spot of modern marketing. LLMs are not neutral. They tend to privilege certain signals over others, consolidate historical reputations, be cautious on controversial topics, and in some cases perpetuate outdated information. Without a structured observation system, brands are exposed to these dynamics without being able to measure their impact.
In this scenario, talking about AEO and GEO without measurement is like doing SEO without Search Console: activities may exist, but results cannot be governed. A data foundation is required to turn a new phenomenon into a measurable discipline.
Today brands measure everything that happens on their own channels, but they do not know what AI says about them when it truly matters.HT&T Consulting
The AI & Marketing Observatory: measuring what was previously invisible
HT&T’s AI & Marketing Observatory was created to fill this gap. It is not an occasional report, but a continuous analysis system that systematically queries the main generative AI models, simulating real user behavior during exploration, evaluation, and decision-making phases.
The methodology is based on a simple principle: what cannot be measured cannot be optimized. For this reason, the Observatory analyzes LLM responses across three complementary levels, making the why behind a recommendation readable and actionable.
The first level is the Vertical: the reference industry (for example Automotive, Finance, Luxury, Pharma, Travel). This level helps understand how recommendation criteria change from one market to another and which semantic ambiguities become critical.
The second level is the Theme: the decision-driving areas that truly shape the conversation (sustainability, technology, reliability, price, customer support). Here, the implicit hierarchy by which AI weighs different factors emerges.
The third level is the Specific Interest: micro-moments and pain points that determine the outcome of a choice (real-world range, operating costs, service network, residual value, software updates). This is the level of granularity that transforms insight into action.
This approach makes it possible to understand not only whether a brand is mentioned, but in which context, with what tone, and with what degree of confidence. It is the foundation for transforming AI from a “black box” into a measurable positioning space.
The first report: Automotive as a case study
The first Observatory report is dedicated to the Automotive sector, one of the industries most exposed to the ongoing transformation. Here, AI systems are queried daily on complex topics: electrification, reliability, operating costs, residual value, regulations, and emerging brands. For this reason, Automotive represents an ideal laboratory for observing how LLMs build recommendations in the presence of perceived risk.
The analysis highlights recurring dynamics: reputational inertia (when discussing safe choices, AI tends to rely on established brands), technological dominance (in software, updates, and infotainment, some brands become implicit benchmarks), and growing credibility of new players when technical communication is structured clearly and made digestible for the models.
Another key element is caution around regulatory topics or variables that are difficult to estimate (such as resale value during transition scenarios): AI tends to adopt cautious language, oversimplify, or generate partially inconsistent responses. This also influences end-user trust, because the form of the answer becomes part of the message.
These insights do not describe the real market, but rather the way the market is narrated by AI. And today, it is this narrative that guides a growing share of decisions.
In the Automotive sector, AI rewards technical clarity and penalizes uncertainty around after-sales support more than traditional marketing does.Automotive Report 2026 – AI & Marketing Observatory
AEO and GEO: from analysis to action
Measurement is the first step. Value emerges when analysis is translated into strategy. This is where Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) come into play.
If traditional SEO aimed to make content discoverable, GEO aims to make it usable by AI as a reliable foundation for recommendation. This means structuring information so that it is clear, coherent, verifiable, and contextualized, reducing ambiguities that cause AI systems to distrust, oversimplify, or exclude a brand.
A frequently underestimated point: it is not enough to tell the market who you are. The digital ecosystem must generate coherent signals that AI can absorb and reproduce over time. If the Observatory shows that AI associates your brand with slow customer service, a single sentence on your website is not enough. It requires work on documentation, content, public responses to pain points, technical assets, PR, and third-party sources, so that the narrative can gradually realign.
This work operates on two complementary levels. The first is operational: improving how information is written and structured, building citable technical corpora, creating pages and content that reduce ambiguity and increase model readability. The second is strategic: ensuring that what the brand wants to be and what the web (and therefore AI) says about the brand are truly aligned.
In short, the Observatory tells you what AI thinks; AEO and GEO are the plan to change that perception in a measurable way.
Monitoring as a growth lever
One of the most common mistakes is treating AI optimization as a one-off project. LLMs evolve, are updated, change sources, and shift priorities. Algorithmic reputation is dynamic.
For this reason, the AI & Marketing Observatory is designed as a continuous monitoring system. Each update allows brands to measure whether response tone is improving, whether the brand is mentioned more frequently or in more favorable contexts, whether critical areas are shrinking, and whether new reputational risks are emerging.
This is the same approach that turned SEO into a performance discipline over time: observation, intervention, measurement, iteration. The difference is that today the channel is not only the SERP, but the generated answer. And the metric is not just position, but the quality of the recommendation.
What HT&T can do for brands
HT&T supports brands with a consultative approach, similar to the one adopted for SEO in past years, but adapted to the new context. The goal is not to chase the algorithm, but to govern the relationship between brand and AI in a structured, measurable, and continuous way.
The first step is an AI positioning audit: a rigorous reading of the current algorithmic reputation across LLMs, a comparison with competitors, and the identification of gaps that prevent the brand from being recommended in the right context. It is the reality check that turns internal perceptions into observable evidence.
The second step is semantic and reputational realignment: the design of content and informational assets that reduce ambiguity, increase perceived authority, and correct negative associations. This includes content engineering, data structuring, knowledge assets, semantic FAQs, citable documentation, and targeted work on third-party sources and PR where necessary.
The third step is evolutionary monitoring: reports and dashboards that measure impact over time and allow strategy to be adjusted without losing coherence. This is where AEO and GEO become a continuous improvement cycle, not a one-off initiative.
Conclusion: the time to act is now
We are at the beginning of this transformation. The representations that LLMs build around brands are not yet definitive, but they are rapidly consolidating. Brands that start measuring, understanding, and optimizing their presence in AI-generated answers today will build a lasting competitive advantage. Those who delay risk discovering too late that someone else is already telling their story.
The AI & Marketing Observatory was created to make visible what was previously invisible and to transform Artificial Intelligence from a reputational risk into a strategic lever.
If a brand does not appear in an AI-generated answer, for the user it simply does not exist at the moment of decision.HT&T – AEO & GEO Analysis
Download the first AI & Marketing Observatory report (Automotive focus)
Frequently asked questions
What is HT&T’s AI & Marketing Observatory?
It is an analysis system that systematically queries the main Artificial Intelligence models and measures how brands are cited, with what tone and level of confidence, in order to understand how algorithmic recommendations are formed.
Why can AI influence car purchase decisions today?
Because more and more users ask complex questions directly to conversational assistants and receive a synthesized answer that guides their decision, often before consulting publishers, forums, or dealerships.
What is the Automotive Observatory Report based on?
The report is built on hundreds of realistic queries related to purchase, comparison, doubts, and objections, and on a comparative reading of responses generated by multiple LLMs, organized by vertical, theme, and specific interest.
Which metrics does the Observatory use to analyze AI responses?
We primarily measure three dimensions: Brand Visibility (how often a brand is cited), Sentiment (the tone of the response), and Authority (how strongly and confidently the AI expresses its statements).
What kind of insights emerge from AI response analysis?
Recurring recommendation patterns emerge, such as the growing weight of Chinese brands, the technological leadership attributed to Tesla, and the decisive importance of after-sales support in building trust.
Does the Report state which car is the best to buy?
No. The Report does not provide absolute judgments on products, but analyzes how AI constructs its answers and how this influences brand perception and recommendation probability.
Why does after-sales support weigh so heavily in AI answers?
Because forums, reviews, and recurring issue reports are among the main sources used by LLMs. Poorly perceived after-sales support often becomes a discouraging factor in recommendations.
What is the relationship between the Observatory, AEO, and GEO?
The Observatory measures the current state of algorithmic reputation. AEO and GEO are the subsequent phases, where content, structured data, and entities are optimized to improve AI-generated answers over time.
How often is the Observatory data updated?
The Observatory is designed to be updated periodically, allowing brands to monitor the evolution of AI “thinking” and measure the impact of applied strategies.
Where can I download the Automotive Report?
The Automotive Report from the AI & Marketing Observatory is available for free on the dedicated page on the HT&T website.
Sources and references
Official documentation explaining how Google Search works, including content quality systems, ranking signals and search evolution toward AI-generated answers.
Guidelines on trust, authority and usefulness of content, increasingly relevant in AI-driven and answer-based search experiences.
Standard vocabulary for structured data used by search engines and AI systems to understand entities, relationships and context.
Foundational principles of entities, linked data and semantic relationships that underpin modern AI understanding.
Technical documentation describing how large language models generate, synthesize and prioritize information in responses.
Insights on the integration between traditional search engines and generative AI–based answer systems.
Strategic analysis on the impact of generative AI on discovery, decision-making and brand visibility.
Editorial analysis on how AI influences brand perception, trust and managerial decision processes.
Proprietary methodology and analysis on algorithmic brand reputation, AEO and GEO strategies.
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