AI Search: Are you recommended when customers ask AI?

Over 800 million people use ChatGPT every week. 62% trust AI when choosing brands. AI Search is no longer a future trend, but a channel where your potential customers are already researching, comparing and deciding right now. As a specialized AI Search agency, we help you get recommended, not overlooked, when customers ask AI.

Henning Madsen

Founder, CEO & Chief SEO Strategist

The search has moved and the decisions have moved with it

The traditional customer journey where users searched on Google, clicked through a series of results and built a picture across multiple sites is disappearing. Increasingly, research, comparison and decision-making are taking place in conversations with ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.

This has two serious consequences for companies that do not work purposefully with AI Search. Firstly, the click disappears from your classic SEO performance. Secondly, you lose the opportunity to be considered at all. If the AI doesn't mention you when a customer asks for recommendations in your category, you're effectively invisible in the very conversations that determine who the customer chooses.

The new search reality (April 2026)

5,2 billion.

monthly ChatGPT visits

60%

of Google searches end without a click

4,4×

Higher conversion rate on AI traffic

1200%

Growth in traffic from AI platforms

Sources: OpenAI, SparkToro, Semrush, Adobe.

AI Search does not replace classic SEO. The two disciplines must run in parallel, and the strongest brands win on both fronts. But ignoring AI Search in 2026 is like ignoring Google in 2005. The window to establish a leadership position is open now, and it's the competitors who haven't yet reacted that are being left behind.

What does success in AI Search require?

AI Search is based on different principles than classic SEO. It's not enough to rank high on keywords if the AI doesn't recognize you as a credible source when it formulates its answer. Four principles determine whether your brand is chosen or overlooked:

Semantic depth

AI models don't read keywords, they read meaning. Your content should cover topics in breadth and depth so that the model recognizes you as the source with the strongest substance, no matter how the question is phrased.

Credibility and E-E-A-T

AI values named experts, proven credentials and external citations. Without strong E-E-A-T cues, it's rare that a model will choose to quote you.

External fire authority

AI models recognize brands that are mentioned consistently across many independent sources. Digital PR, trade articles and partnerships carry as much weight as content on your own website.

Technical AI readiness

AI crawlers like OpenAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot and GoogleOther must be able to find, read and cite your content. Schema markup and a proper crawl setup is the foundation that makes everything else possible.

The three pillars of AI Search work

AI Search work can be broken down into three pillars. All three must be in place for the effort to succeed, and it's the interaction between them that determines whether you are selected or overlooked by the AI models.

PILLAR 01

Query portfolio

Mapping out the queries you need to be visible on. A strong query portfolio focuses on the queries your customers are actually asking AI (not the keywords you used to rank for in Google), prioritizes them by commercial value and tracks them continuously.

PILLAR 02

Onsite: Optimization and enrichment

Working on your own website: restructuring for question-based answer blocks, Schema Markup, building E-E-A-T signals and semantic depth. In many cases, it's about refining existing content to be citable, not creating completely new content.

PILLAR 03

Offsite: Digital PR and brand mentions

Everything that happens outside of your own site: mentions in niche media, quotes in press coverage, expert posts and partnerships. This is what connects your brand with your customer's intentions and strengthens AI models' perception of you as a credible player.

A company that only works with one of the pillars rarely gets the full benefit. Onsite without offsite lacks the authority signals. Offsite without onsite has no gateway to direct traffic to. And both without a sharp query portfolio end up optimizing in directions that don't create commercial value.

How we connect AI Search to real business value

AI response visibility is not a goal in itself. To prioritize efforts wisely, we link AI visibility to existing data from Google Ads, Google Analytics and Google Search Console. By triangulating these data sources, we get an accurate picture of where the real business value lies and which AI conversations you should prioritize to win.

GOOGLE ADS

Where is there purchasing power?

High CPCs reveal which terms competitors are actually paying dearly for, and thus which conversations have commercial substance.

SEARCH CONSOLE

Where do you stand today?

Shows which organic searches are driving impressions and clicks for you and where there is the most to gain or lose in the transition to AI search.

ANALYTICS

What really converts?

Uncover which pages, traffic sources and themes actually deliver leads and revenue, so AI Search efforts can be directed to the areas that pay off.

The result is that AI Search is not an abstract visibility project, but a measurable effort tied directly to business KPIs. You know what you're getting for your investment, and you can continuously adjust according to what really works commercially.

Why choose InboundCPH as your AI Search partner?

Many call themselves AI Search experts in 2026. We believe it's all about substance and proven results:

InboundCPH in numbers

20 year

with SEO as a core discipline

specialists in Copenhagen and Aalborg

300+

successful customer cases

240+

Share of Voice analytics completed

Google

Premium Partner for more than 10 years

Specifically, this means that we have what you should look for in a serious AI Search partner: proven results in the form of concrete cases with measurable numbers, own analytics platforms for Share of Voice measurement (not just resold licenses) and Interdisciplinary breadth, so we can connect AI Search to your overall marketing and business operations from the same table.

Case

Azets: from invisible to recommended in 3 months

Azets, one of the Nordic region's leading providers of financial and payroll administration, wanted to increase the visibility of their Interim CFO services. In three months, we focused on 20 search strings and delivered the following:

Measurement	Before	After
Google AI Overview visibility	55%	→ 88%
ChatGPT visibility	25%	→ 44%
Google organic rankings (Interim CFO)	Item 12	→ Pos. 2

“InboundCPH got us started with AI-search in a single area. When we saw proven results on both Google and ChatGPT after 3 months, it was natural to expand the collaboration to more of our service areas and markets in Europe.”

Jørgen Bærentzen
Head of Marketing and Partners, Azets

Read the full case →

Kickstart your AI Search efforts

Free Share of Voice analysis

Get a data-driven overview of your current AI visibility, how you compare to competitors and where the biggest opportunities lie. The analysis is non-binding and delivered within 10 working days.

Content

Share of Voice in ChatGPT, Google AI views and traditional organic searches

Competitor comparison

Up to 3 direct competitors

Deliverable

Within 10 working days

Request a free analysis

Frequently asked questions about AI Search

How does AI Search differ from classic SEO?

Classic SEO is about ranking high in Google's organic results by optimizing keywords, building backlinks and securing technical factors. AI Search is about being cited by the AI models in their summarized answers. This requires a different content structure (question-based answer blocks), different signals (E-E-A-T, semantic depth, brand mentions) and different metrics (Share of Voice over CTR). The two disciplines do not replace each other - they should run in parallel and, when combined correctly, reinforce each other.

Can the impact of AI Search be measured?

Yes, and more accurately than many people think. We measure Share of Voice by systematically sending a representative sample of relevant queries to the AI models and recording how often your brand is mentioned. We also track referral traffic from AI platforms in Google Analytics and link the data to your Google Ads and Search Console to assess the commercial value of each effort. You'll get transparent, data-driven reporting that shows trends over time.

Is it too late to start AI Search now?

No, on the contrary. We are still in the early phase where the competition for AI visibility is significantly lower than in classic SEO. The companies that establish themselves as credible sources in the AI models' answers now are building a position that is difficult to displace later. The window is gradually closing and it is the first movers who will dominate their category in AI Search for years to come.

Which AI platforms should we focus on?

Prioritization depends on your audience and industry, but the top four in 2026 are ChatGPT (largest user base), Google AI Overviews (biggest impact on classic search), Perplexity (research-heavy audience) and Claude (enterprise users). Copilot and Gemini are also growing. We recommend measuring Share of Voice across all relevant platforms, but prioritize your efforts where your customers are.

What is Share of Voice in AI responses?

Share of Voice expresses the proportion of relevant AI answers that mention your brand. If 100 potential customers ask ChatGPT for recommendations within your category and your brand is mentioned in 35 of the responses, you have a Share of Voice of 35%. This is the most direct indicator of your AI visibility and correlates strongly with commercial impact.

How soon can we see results?

Typically within 4-8 weeks for the first measurable changes, and 3 months for a solid baseline improvement. Quick wins in terms of Schema Markup, E-E-A-T tightening and content structuring can pay off quickly, while authority building and semantic depth is a longer-term effort. The Azets case is a typical example of what can be achieved in three months when all three pillars are activated simultaneously.

What does it cost to work with AI Search?

The investment depends on the level of ambition, market competition and number of business areas. Most partnerships begin with a limited pilot program starting at DKK 35,000 so you can see the concrete effect before committing to an ongoing collaboration. Fully integrated programs typically start from DKK 25,000 per month and scale from there.

Is AI Search relevant for both B2B and B2C?

Both. In B2B, where complex customer journeys and research are heavily weighted, AI Search is particularly important and we often see higher conversion rates from AI-powered B2B traffic than from classic search. In B2C, AI visibility is increasingly influencing purchase decisions, especially for considered purchases (electronics, financial products, travel). The principle is the same in both cases: if your brand is not mentioned in AI responses, you are effectively invisible in a growing part of the decision-making process.

How do we ensure correct brand mentions in AI responses?

This requires a combination of structured onsite content (Schema Markup, consistent brand language, named authors) and coordinated offsite presence (digital PR, consistent mentions across niches and industries). If the AI encounters conflicting or unclear information about your brand, you risk incorrect or diluted mentions. We work systematically to map and correct the sources the AI models draw on so that your brand is consistently represented correctly.

What if we already work with another SEO agency?

It works well to combine. AI Search efforts can run in parallel with your existing SEO collaboration as long as the tasks are clearly delineated. We often find that our AI Search efforts strengthen your classic SEO performance as a positive side effect, because the same authority and content signals are rewarded by both Google and the AI models.

Ready to be recommended by AI?

Start with a free Share of Voice analysis or reach out to us directly for a no-obligation dialog about your AI Search potential.

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Henning Madsen

Founder, CEO & Chief SEO Strategist

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