The way consumers discover and engage with brands is rapidly evolving as artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly mediates the initial stages of the customer journey. Rather than browsing through search results and websites, customers are turning to AI-powered recommendation engines—such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Perplexity—for tailored advice, often making purchasing decisions before visiting a brand’s website.

For over two decades, digital marketing largely focused on securing website clicks through search engine rankings, impressions, and traffic. However, this paradigm is shifting. AI platforms now play a central role in brand visibility, altering how brands are found, evaluated, and ultimately selected by consumers. This transformation has significant implications for marketing leaders and executive teams tasked with driving growth.

Recent data illustrates this trend. Adobe’s Digital Insights research reported a substantial year-on-year increase in AI-driven traffic during May, with retail websites seeing a 138% rise, travel sites 194%, and financial services 105%. Beyond volume, AI-referred visitors exhibit deeper engagement, spending more time on sites and converting at notably higher rates compared to traditional traffic sources. In retail, conversion rates from AI referrals are 54% higher, revenue per visit is up by 53%, and bounce rates have dropped by 36%. Notably, this marks a reversal from a year ago when AI traffic generated less revenue than conventional search visitors.

This shift suggests that AI is now directing more qualified prospects who have completed much of their decision-making before arriving on brand websites. Consequently, AI visibility is becoming a key factor influencing commercial performance, affecting not only traffic but also conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and revenue growth.

In response to these changes, Adobe recently launched Adobe Brand Visibility, a solution aimed at helping businesses assess how effectively their brands are seen, trusted, and recommended across AI-driven platforms. The tool integrates Adobe’s AI optimisation capabilities with Semrush’s extensive search intelligence, leveraging nearly 300 million real-world AI search prompts alongside a database spanning 28.5 billion keywords and 43 trillion backlinks. This approach enables marketers to identify gaps in AI visibility, monitor competitive positioning, and implement content strategies that improve commercial outcomes.

Traditional search engine optimisation (SEO), which primarily focused on keyword rankings, is giving way to what Adobe terms “Generative Engine Optimisation.” This new focus centers on ensuring brands are comprehensively understood and cited by AI systems that synthesize data from a wide array of sources—including editorial content, buying guides, FAQs, product details, and community discussions.

Research by Adobe indicates that companies achieving strong AI visibility consistently invest in producing structured, informative content that educates customers rather than simply promoting products. Such content provides the context AI systems need to confidently recommend a brand when responding to consumer queries.

For businesses, particularly in Australia, this shift offers an opportunity to gain a sustained competitive edge. Brands that establish authoritative, information-rich profiles today are more likely to be favored by AI recommendations in the future. Conversely, those that lag risk falling behind as competitors reinforce their positions through ongoing AI interactions.

As AI increasingly shapes how customers initiate and navigate their purchasing journeys, brand visibility within these systems is emerging as a critical dimension of digital competition. Success will not depend solely on traditional search rankings but rather on a brand’s ability to be recognized, understood, and endorsed by AI-driven discovery tools.