As consumers increasingly turn to AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity for buying advice instead of traditional search engines, Indian companies are facing a new marketing challenge: how to become one of the few brands AI recommends. According to a Business Standard analysis of 375 AI-generated recommendations across five consumer categories, AI assistants typically suggest only three or four brands rather than presenting long lists of search results. The study found that established brands such as Apollo Hospitals, HDFC ERGO, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and LG appeared in more than 90% of AI-generated recommendations within their respective categories, indicating that AI tends to reinforce recognized market leaders.
The article suggests that this marks a shift from traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to what marketers are beginning to call AI Optimization or Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Instead of focusing solely on ranking highly in Google search results, companies now need to ensure that AI models view their brands as trustworthy, authoritative, and relevant. Factors such as strong brand reputation, consistent online information, expert reviews, credible media coverage, customer feedback, and well-structured digital content increasingly influence whether AI assistants include a brand in their recommendations.
However, influencing AI recommendations is not as straightforward as manipulating search rankings. The Business Standard analysis found that while AI systems often converged on similar leading brands, they agreed on the top recommendation only about 41.6% of the time, reflecting differences in training data, retrieval methods, and ranking algorithms. This means businesses cannot rely on a single optimization strategy for all AI platforms. Instead, marketers are beginning to monitor brand visibility across multiple AI assistants and adapt their content strategies accordingly.
The article concludes that AI assistants are rapidly becoming digital gatekeepers for consumer decisions, fundamentally changing how brands compete for attention. As conversational AI increasingly replaces traditional search for product discovery, companies will need to invest not only in advertising and SEO but also in building authoritative digital reputations, producing high-quality content, and maintaining consistent brand credibility across the web. In the emerging AI-driven marketplace, success may depend as much on being recommended by AI as it once depended on appearing on the first page of search results.
