Winning in AI Search: What Marketers Need to Know Now

AI-driven search is no longer a future trend—it’s already reshaping how brands are discovered, evaluated, and ultimately chosen.

In this session, Winning in AI Search, NextBigWin partnered with Crossfill and Tap In Digital, alongside Michele Hsu (VP of Marketing at Cerebro Capital), to break down what’s changing—and what marketers need to do about it.

The Shift: From Rankings to Recommendations

One of the biggest takeaways is simple but important:

AI doesn’t rank. It selects.

Traditional SEO focused on rankings, clicks, and traffic. But AI-generated answers skip that entire process. Instead of showing a list of links, platforms like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews recommend a small set of brands directly.

In many cases, 60–80% of recommendations are concentrated among just three brands.

If you’re not included, you’re not just lower—you’re invisible.

The New Problem: Invisible Demand

AI is creating a layer of demand that most companies can’t see.

• No impression
• No click
• No attribution

As highlighted in the session, a user can discover your brand through AI, then visit directly, while your analytics show “Direct” traffic and give AI zero credit.

This creates what Tap In Digital calls a “dark demand layer” — influence that exists but isn’t measured.

What to Measure Instead

The session introduced a new set of metrics that matter in AI-driven discovery:

• Brand share of voice in AI answers
• Citation frequency
• Prompt coverage (where you show up vs. don’t)
• Competitive inclusion gaps

These signals determine whether your brand is even part of the consideration set.

The Bottom Line

You are already losing share in AI-driven discovery.

You just can’t see it yet.

The brands that start measuring—and acting—now will be the ones that win.