Brands are already being recommended by AI, or completely ignored.
For years, brands have measured their digital performance through search rankings, website traffic and social media engagement. These indicators remain essential, but they no longer provide the full picture of how consumers discover and evaluate brands.
A growing number of people are no longer searching for information in the traditional sense. Instead, they are asking questions. Rather than comparing websites, they consult ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity for advice, recommendations and purchasing decisions. This shift is changing the nature of digital visibility.
As Emmanuel Dollé, founder of Bubbling and former executive at Google and Meta, explains in a recent conversation on Cyril Attias' Marketing & Influence podcast, we are not witnessing the end of search engine optimisation. We are witnessing the emergence of a new economy of recommendation.
From visibility to recommendation
The digital economy has evolved through several distinct phases. Search engines introduced the era of intent, where consumers searched, compared results and clicked on websites. Social media then created the era of attention, where brands competed to capture engagement through content, communities and influence.
Conversational AI is now opening a third chapter: the era of conversation. Consumers increasingly ask complete questions instead of typing keywords, expecting direct answers rather than pages of search results. For brands, this distinction is fundamental. The challenge is no longer simply to be visible. It is to become recommendable.
AI is changing how consumers make decisions
The scale of this transformation is already significant. ChatGPT now serves around 900 million users worldwide, while Gemini has reached a comparable order of magnitude according to Google. Observations shared by Bubbling also indicate that the use of conversational AI is doubling or even tripling year after year across the leading platforms.
Other indicators reinforce this trend. SparkToro estimates that nearly 60% of online searches now end without a click, while Semrush reports that only 22% of marketers currently monitor their visibility within AI environments. This is no longer an experimental technology. It has become a new layer of digital behaviour.
Consumers are asking for advice, not links
This evolution fundamentally changes the role artificial intelligence plays in purchasing decisions. When someone asks, "Which French niche perfume would you recommend?" or "Which luxury brand genuinely justifies its price?", they are no longer looking for a list of websites. They are asking for an opinion. A recommendation. A trusted answer. In this context, conversational AI becomes what Emmanuel Dollé describes as "your best advisor." The strategic question for brands therefore becomes remarkably simple. What does artificial intelligence say about your brand when you are not part of the conversation ? Does it understand your positioning ? Does it recommend you ? Or does it simply ignore you ?
GEO does not replace SEO
This transformation should not be interpreted as the replacement of SEO. Search engines continue to play a critical role in digital discovery, while conversational AI introduces an additional layer of visibility. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) complements traditional SEO rather than replacing it.
The objective is no longer limited to ranking highly on Google. Brands must also ensure that AI models understand who they are, what they stand for and why they deserve to be recommended when consumers ask for guidance.
AI reflects reputation. It does not create it.
Artificial intelligence does not invent a brand's reputation. It aggregates, synthesises and redistributes the information already available across the digital ecosystem.
Media coverage, public relations, expert content, thought leadership, influence campaigns, customer reviews and corporate communications all contribute to shaping how AI models interpret a brand. The quality of those signals determines whether an AI can confidently recommend a company or struggles to understand what differentiates it. This is why visibility within AI environments cannot be achieved through technical optimisation alone. It is built on reputation, authority and consistency.
The role of strategic communications is changing
This shift is precisely why KALEA Communications helps luxury, beauty and lifestyle brands prepare for the next era of visibility.
Our role is not simply to optimise brands for AI or search engines. It is to build the strategic foundations that make a brand understandable, credible and recommendable. Through public relations, thought leadership, expert content, influence strategies, reputation management and our Luxury Narrative Intelligence approach, we strengthen the signals that both people and conversational AI rely on to form trust. Because artificial intelligence does not create reputation. It reflects it.
A new strategic challenge for brands
For more than two decades, brands competed to appear on the first page of Google. Tomorrow, they will increasingly compete to become the brand that artificial intelligence chooses to recommend. The technologies may be new, but the foundations remain remarkably familiar. Reputation, credibility, authority and consistency continue to determine how trust is built. The difference is that trust is now being interpreted not only by people, but also by machines. In the emerging economy of recommendation, the brands that will be recommended tomorrow are the ones building their credibility today.