What is AI search optimization? (& why marketers should care)

AI search optimization is the practice of improving brands’ odds of being cited and mentioned by answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overviews. The traffic it earns is small but high-intent. Across more than 1,200 publisher and news sites, visitors referred by AI tools signed up at roughly 11 times the rate of search visitors, according to a Microsoft Clarity study .