As AI assistants influence research and purchasing decisions, brands need to understand whether they are mentioned, recommended, accurately described, and cited. They also need to know how to bridge the gap in the absence of this information.

Boston, October 7th / PRNewswire / -- The answers generated by AI are changing the way people research brands before visiting websites. For marketers, visibility now includes not only whether the brand is mentioned, recommended, or accurately described, but also whether the sources relied upon are recognized by the company. Verndale has launched related services to help measure AI visibility and to establish a content operation system necessary for improving visibility.

According to the research on clickstream data from January to April 2026 based on Similarweb by SparkToro, 68% of Google searches in the United States did not result in a click. Gartner also reported that in the most recent purchase, 45% of the surveyed B2B buyers used generative AI, mainly for collecting information about suppliers and products.

SEO is still of great importance, but marketers now have a broader understanding of "visibility." Rankings and traffic indicate whether people can find a particular page. AI Visibility also depends on whether the brand has appeared in the search results and whether those results are correct.

Verndale, General Manager of Marketing Services, Tod Szewczyk stated: "Even if a brand has a strong search ranking, it may not appear in the consideration phase that influences decisions. Brands need to know where they are mentioned, when they are recommended, which sources are influencing the outcomes, and what inaccurate information is being spread."

Google's guidelines state that existing SEO practices are still applicable to AI Overviews and AI Mode. Answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) are extensions of this foundation; they examine how brands appear in AI responses, as well as which types of content, authority, or source gaps may limit discoveries.

To answer these questions, Verndale will repeatedly test real audience questions with the main AI assistants to assess the AI visibility. The analysis will measure whether the brand is mentioned, recommended, or cited, and then identify the sources that shape each answer. It will also identify issues where competitors appear but the brand is absent, as well as mark statements that conflict with confirmed facts. What results is an actionable content brief, rather than a single visibility score.

This approach can both reveal a leading position in a category and expose hidden vulnerabilities. In a recent study conducted for a leading graduate school in the United States by Verndale, the company collected over 7,200 responses to more than 100 questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, and Claude. The study assessed potential graduate students separately from buyers of professional development programs, as the two groups of respondents posed different questions and faced different competitive landscapes.

In questions regarding graduate degree programs, this institution accounted for 16% of the mentions among the tracked institutions, ranking first among 18 institutions. Its official website received 13% of the citations, surpassing any other domain name. Nevertheless, there is still a significant gap in the overall results: in 21 combinations of “question + AI assistant,” at least two competitors appeared, but this institution never did. The research also found that 284 answers conflicted with the current program facts confirmed by clients.

These findings indicate that overall visibility may mask specific risks. A brand may be leading in its category, yet it may still be missing important issues, receive few recommendations, or be described by outdated information. The most useful analysis would correlate each gap with specific audience concerns, sources of reference, and facts that need to be addressed.

Verndale provides free SEO, GEO, and AEO assessments to help organizations establish a baseline in search and AI results. These assessments examine technical health, content coverage, competitive visibility, citations, answer accuracy, and authoritative signals that influence discovery, enabling teams to see where they have strong visibility and where improvements are needed.

Correcting these findings requires more than just a list of page modifications. The team also needs a clear division of responsibilities, reusable content models, reliable source materials, and a method to keep information up-to-date across various channels in order to transform this work into a sustained improvement in visibility.

The AI of Verndale enables content supply chain assessments to help organizations identify where time, consistency, and value are lost in various stages of content operations, such as planning, creation, review, localization, distribution, measurement, and governance. Its Agentic AI readiness assessment identifies areas where AI agents can safely increase throughput and return on investment without compromising control. A recent collaboration with Quinnipiac University demonstrated the operational aspects of this work; the governed agent workflow transforms existing content into reusable modules while allowing marketers to retain final approval authority. This approach increased the article optimization coverage rate from 0% to 90%, while also boosting the content recall rate by 33%, and improved the AI readiness level by 25%.

Szewczyk indicates that: 'The visibility of AI has created new demand signals for the content team. Organizations that take action will connect the issues raised by their audience with the content, governance, and workflows required to provide accurate answers.'

About Verndale

Verndale is a digital experience agency that helps brands create, optimize, and grow through strategy, design, content, AI, and technology. The company collaborates with marketing and technical teams to create digital experiences that are discoverable, measurable, and people-oriented. For more information, please visit Verndale.com.

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