AI is already making buying decisions about your brand, and many companies don’t realize this is happening. Simple Google searches show that AI isn’t waiting for people to become better prompters – it’s forming opinions RIGHT NOW from basic, everyday questions.
When someone searches “What’s the best project management software?”… no fancy prompting, just a basic question millions ask daily, Google’s AI Overview confidently positions certain brands as winners and completely ignores others.
Asana gets “for small businesses.” Monday.com gets “visual and easy-to-use.” ClickUp becomes the “all-in-one solution.” Meanwhile, Smartsheet with ~$1B revenue, ~11M users, and Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader status doesn’t exist in AI’s answer.
See screenshots of the actual search results below that anyone can replicate today.
This isn’t happening in ChatGPT with prompt-engineering experts. This is regular Google. The same search box your customers have used for decades, but now AI is making decisions about which brands to consider.
Here’s what these searches show:
➡︎ Visibility – Who shows up vs. who doesn’t
WordPress (40%+ market share) is completely invisible in website builder results. Smartsheet, an enterprise leader, is missing from project management entirely. Major platforms are absent while smaller ones get featured.
➡︎ Sentiment – How AI talks about your brand
HubSpot gets premium language like “highly-regarded” and “top all-in-one option.” Wix gets the endorsement as “excellent all-around option for most users.” Others get basic descriptions like “user-friendly and affordable.”
➡︎ Positioning – Your rank in the decision framework
Some brands get prime real estate with first mention and broad appeal. Others own specific niches like Shopify being “the top choice for e-commerce.” The rest get lumped together as afterthoughts worth “also considering.”
AI search visitors convert 4.4x better than organic traffic because they arrive educated and ready to buy. But AI forms these opinions from basic prompts requiring zero skill.
If your positioning is vague or inconsistent, AI fills in the blanks from whatever signals it finds online.
Companies that understand this will build massive competitive advantages. Those that don’t may be invisible and recommended for the wrong situations to mainstream searchers.
AI is already influencing buying decisions through the simplest searches. The question is whether you’re controlling that narrative.
Test it yourself. Type basic questions about your category into Google. See how AI positions your brand.
If you find gaps in how AI talks about your brand, I share actionable ways to improve AI visibility, sentiment, and recommendations in my newsletters. Links in comments below. If you find the newsletters helpful, feel free to share with others and subscribe so that you get them straight in your inbox every two weeks.
