AI Search Trends for 2026

Over the last two years, we’ve seen the usage of large language model (LLM) chatbots go from a novelty to a regular occurrence for approximately 57% of Americans, according to a survey by Brookings. Most of those people use AI for internet searches or web browsing.

As the world becomes more comfortable with using AI to find information, products, and services online, our jobs as SEOs become more interesting, and sometimes more challenging. For example, keeping up with the latest in AI search is fun, but watching AI Overviews and generative chatbots siphon clicks from clients – not so much.

Now that we’re well into 2026, we’re at a good point to take a step back and assess AI search trends for this year. We’ll share what we’re seeing and how we’re approaching each trend in ways that will benefit our clients.

Trends we’ll cover in this post:

Agentic search and shopping
Personalization from answer engines
Topical and brand authority
Reputation management
Insights from server logs
AI-assisted content

Agentic Search and Shopping

In the last six months, agentic shopping has become more widely available as OpenAI partnered with Etsy and Shopify to launch its “Instant Checkout” functionality. The partnerships should make it easier for sellers using those platforms to show up and receive sales during a conversation in ChatGPT, but not all sellers consider it a viable option. For example, after testing with OpenAI, Walmart pulled out of Instant Checkout and created their own version of agentic shopping, called Sparky. It still works with ChatGPT (along with Gemini) but keeps ownership and brand voice consistent for its customers.

Our recommendation: Most businesses do not have the resources that Walmart has to create their own version of agentic search, so we suggest a less taxing route. If you’re on Shopify and you are interested in gaining sales through ChatGPT’s instant checkout, take advantage of the opportunity. But keep an eye on your data and your customer’s feedback about the experience. If the feedback is negative, opt out. Protecting your brand’s online reputation is key to long-term success in this field. (More on that below!)

Personalization from Answer Engines

Whether you’re using Google Search in AI mode or chatting it up with Gemini, the answers you receive can be more personalized than ever. By opting into Google’s Personal Intelligence, you can connect Gmail, Photos, YouTube, and Search together, allowing the tool to use your data to provide more personalized answers to queries. This may be a helpful tool for users, but it is likely to limit visibility in its answers. If a user has shown interest in a specific brand, for example, that brand will be more likely to be recommended to that user.

Our recommendation: Brand recognition is key here. SEO and GEO are no longer only about what is on your website; a holistic, omnichannel approach that incorporates digital PR (public relations), paid media, social media, and word of mouth will help your brand become top of mind for users and search bots.

Topical and Brand Authority

Proving you know your “stuff” is key to building authority with AI tools. You can exhibit topical authority by creating informational content on your website that highlights your expertise and experience in your field. Brand authority is a little more complicated because it’s built on a combination of what you know and what others say about you. One key to building both types of authority is by establishing a core brand message and adhering to it everywhere a person might encounter your brand.

Our recommendation: For brand authority, if your business does not have a core brand message, it’s time to develop one. Be thoughtful about describing what you do for your customers, your unique selling proposition, and how you want to be perceived in the market. Put it in writing, share it with your entire organization, and then ensure your core message is consistently voiced on your website, in your advertising, on social media and YouTube, and in any press releases you publish.

For topical authority, publish informational content on your website that showcases your depth of knowledge and real-life experience about the products you sell, services you provide, and the market your brand is a part of. Stick to your lane and go deep rather than writing broadly and generally about less-than-relevant subjects. For example, if you sell luxurious bed linens, write about fabric quality and care or trending colors and patterns, not your grandmother’s favorite chicken soup recipe.

Check out our blog article on brand messaging

Reputation Management

When assessing our clients’ brand authority, we use an in-house tool to interrogate three chatbots at once to learn how well those LLMs understand the brand. We then analyze the data to identify areas of strength and weakness, as well as what people are saying about the brand online. Each bot seems to have a different preferred set of sources for reviews, including Google, Trustpilot, Reddit, and the Better Business Bureau, and will share both positive and negative sentiment.

In their effort to provide both pros and cons of any brand they recommend, LLMs will go digging for negative reviews, even if they are not recent. And with an increased amount of AI-written content online, those negative reviews may get duplicated on multiple sites – making chatbots think the brand has more negative reviews than it actually does.

Our recommendation: Reputation management has been around for years, but if your business hasn’t taken it seriously before, now is the time. Find out what people are saying about your brand and respond, when appropriate, in a helpful and respectful way. Ask current satisfied customers to leave reviews as well, particularly on those review sites mentioned above. Take action to own your brand narrative by sharing information on how you’re keeping customers happy, highlighting great feedback, case studies, customer interviews, and other positive information.

Insights from Server Logs

Server logs are one of the clearest sources of truth for AI search analysis because they show how bots and crawlers actually move through a site. Unlike surface-level analytics, logs expose request-level behavior, technical errors, and crawl patterns that can shape visibility in AI search. This data can help you better understand what types of content AI bots are accessing and how frequently they are accessing it. Analyzing this log data can help you identify:

Crawler-specific Intent: Distinguish between training bots (like Google-Extended) and real-time retrieval bots (like OAI-SearchBot). If your content strategy relies on being cited by real-time answers, but logs show only training bots are accessing your content, your content is being used build the model, not answer the user’s questions.
Bot Hit Rate: Which topics AI bots consider to be your most authoritative?
Crawl Depth: Is your best content buried too deep for real-time retrieval bots to find?

Our recommendation: Review your server logs to determine if bots are learning from your data and citing your content in real-time answers. This will allow you to move beyond surface metrics and optimize content specifically for AI ingestion and authoritative citation.

AI-Assisted Content

Helpful content is still a priority, and in an age when marketers are rushing AI-written content to the web for quick wins, we have to define what makes content helpful. Is it reproducing the average of the internet (as generative AI does when it writes for you), or is it adding your business’s expertise and authority to a blog post showing your topical authority and how to help your customers achieve their goals? (Hint: it’s option 2!) Google’s John Mueller has said many times in the past few years that “average” content is not going to help you rank. Shortcuts may work in the short term, but as the answer engines become savvier, the cream should rise to the top of their answers and the SERPs.

In a survey and study recently published by Semrush, analysis shows that pages in position one of the SERP have an 80.5% probability of being human written, compared to just 10% for AI-generated. While using AI to assist with research, writing a first draft, and editing is a great way to speed up production, ensuring your content creation is still human led is the way to improve your chances of ranking near the top of the SERPs.

Our recommendation: Use AI to assist with research, outlining, and editing, but have humans write the content. Double down on being human by highlighting your team’s knowledge, first-hand experience, and thought leadership. Go beyond what an AI tool can write by including the things that only humans can feel and understand.

Staying on Top of AI-Search Trends

At ROI Revolution, the SEO team prides itself on keeping up with the latest trends in GEO and SEO. We understand that technology changes quickly and LLMs are evolving rapidly. We read the news, test our hypotheses, and develop solid SEO techniques so that you can focus on running and growing your business. Contact us today to learn how we can help you reach your goals.