The New Rules of Brand Visibility in AI Search
MIT Sloan Management Review, Tuesday, October 13th, 2026
As zero-click LLM answers replace links, brands must manage both visibility and accuracy in AI search with new metrics.
LLM-driven search creates two challenges for brands: being visible and being represented accurately.
SEO is now tied to generative engine optimization, and traditional traffic analytics are giving way to new metrics.
In one case, a New Zealand investment platform saw ChatGPT referrals grow to about 700 sessions a month, with better engagement than other sources, but could not tell what AI systems were saying about it.
The research offers ways for leaders to make brands more visible, more accurately described and better positioned over time.