Glossary · Concepts
AI Search
Also called: AI-powered search, generative search
AI Search is the category of search experiences where an AI model reads web content and returns a synthesised, cited answer to a query instead of a ranked list of links — spanning Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and others.
AI Search collapses the classic "search then click then read" journey into "ask then read". The engine retrieves candidate pages, ranks them, and generates a single answer that quotes a few sources. For most informational and a growing share of commercial queries, the user gets the answer without visiting any site.
For brands this reframes visibility from ranking to citation. Being on page one is no longer the goal; being one of the two-to-four sources named inside the answer is. That is what the disciplines of AEO and GEO optimise for.
AI Search differs from classic search in the output: classic search returns ten blue links, AI Search returns one synthesised answer with a handful of cited sources.
A buyer researching accounting software types "best accounting software for freelancers" into ChatGPT, reads the three-tool answer it generates, and clicks through to only one cited vendor — the two that were not cited never get the visit.