There’s an AI Search land grab happening right now.
No, we’re not talking about real estate.
We’re talking about the rapidly changing territory where businesses are being discovered, mentioned, and surfaced by AI platforms.
Research covered by Search Engine Journal looked at more than 50,000 brands across more than 1,000 categories and found something remarkable: nearly 90% of AI Search demand was occurring in categories without a clear dominant brand.
That means a tremendous amount of AI Search territory may still be up for grabs.
Businesses Have Been Fighting Over Google Real Estate for Decades
For more than 20 years, businesses have competed for essentially the same valuable pieces of Google real estate:
Page One.
The Top 3 organic results.
The Google Maps Pack.
Companies have invested enormous amounts of time and money trying to capture those positions.
AI Search changes the landscape.
Consumers can now ask platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and other AI-powered systems questions about products, services, companies, and solutions.
Instead of simply trying to appear higher in a list of search results, businesses increasingly need to consider a different question:
Will AI understand, trust, mention, and potentially recommend my business?
AI Hasn’t Picked All of Its Winners Yet
One of the most interesting findings from the research was that many categories did not yet have a clear leader.
However, when a brand did establish itself as the leader, the research found that it retained that leading position more than 90% of the time during the study.
That does not mean a company can claim an AI Search category today and own it permanently.
AI platforms, search systems, models, sources, and consumer behavior continue to change.
But it does suggest something important:
AI hasn’t picked all of its winners yet.
For businesses, that creates an opportunity.
Start Building Authority Now
Businesses shouldn’t wait for AI Search to become completely settled before paying attention to it.
Start creating the signals that make your business easier to understand.
Answer real questions your customers ask.
Build useful service pages.
Publish original, helpful information based on your actual expertise.
Strengthen your reputation and reviews.
Keep your business information accurate and consistent.
Make it clear who you are, what you do, where you do it, and why customers trust you.
The objective isn’t to find some secret trick that makes ChatGPT recommend you tomorrow.
It’s to build a strong, credible digital presence that gives search engines and AI systems more useful information with which to understand your business.
The AI Search Land Grab Is Underway
The battle for traditional Google rankings isn’t disappearing.
But there’s now another frontier.
Businesses are competing to become the brands AI systems recognize, understand, trust, cite, mention, and recommend.
And if nearly 90% of AI Search demand really is occurring without a clear dominant brand, we may still be relatively early in determining who those recognized brands will become.
The AI Search Wild West Land Grab is underway.
And things are about to get interesting.
Think Big! Be Trusted! Be Recommended!
Do you need help getting ready for AI Search and/or SEO for your website? Contact Us Today!
