AI search is revolutionizing how businesses compete for visibility, forcing marketing leaders to rethink how they protect and grow their market share in an evolving digital landscape.
- 45.5% of senior marketing executives are prioritizing brand loyalty over other tactics to maintain market share. This is due to AI-driven search influencing consumer behavior and competition.
- 30.3% of marketing leaders are concerned about the decline of organic search. As a result, brands must rethink their SEO tactics and focus on AI-friendly optimization.
To better understand these trends, we analyzed data from an independent sample of 89,561 senior marketing executives in the United States over a 12-month period leading up to January 20, 2025. This dataset was synthesized using AI-driven audience profiling, providing a statistically confident view of how businesses are navigating AI search to maintain and expand their market position.
These are the latest insights on how marketers are securing their share of AI-driven search.
Key Findings
- 46% focus on brand loyalty to build and protect market share
- 32% fear AI search engines will compromise data privacy
- 31% say ease of use is the biggest advantage of using AI
- 43% SEO teams are leveraging AI-driven insights
- 29% SEO teams focus on content creation
How Are You Building and Protecting Market Share?
Nearly half (45.5%) of marketers focus on brand loyalty to build and protect market share.
Marketers are using a range of strategies to strengthen their brand’s position in the market, and we’ve unpacked what the data reveals below:
One of the senior marketing executives the data is based on commented that:
“Building brand loyalty is crucial as consumers now expect brands to understand their needs and engage meaningfully. When brands align with customer values and offer rewards, they foster trust and emotional connections, leading to long-term loyalty. This connection is essential for maintaining market share in a competitive landscape.”
They are not alone in their sentiment, as nearly half (45.5%) of U.S. senior marketing executives identify brand loyalty as their primary strategy for maintaining market share. A strong brand aids customer retention, especially as AI-driven search technologies reshape consumer behaviors.
However, 37.6% of marketers are taking a different approach to the same topic. Instead of focusing on building brand loyalty, they’re actively addressing the challenges hindering their current strategy. Factors such as inconsistent messaging, shifting consumer expectations and competitors’ AI-driven personalization may be making it more difficult to keep customers engaged.
Beyond brand loyalty, other strategies are less prevalent, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable. Market research (4.8%) and strong pricing strategies (3.9%) suggest that while insights and competitive pricing are valued, these alone aren’t sufficient to secure market share.
Approaches like competitive analysis (1.8%), customer engagement (1.6%), and product differentiation (1.5%) are less emphasized, despite their potential benefits.
In a market increasingly shaped by AI-driven search and digital engagement, companies that proactively invest in customer interaction, storytelling and differentiation will be better positioned to stand out and retain customers.
Innovation (1.4%) and digital marketing (0.9%) also rank low, indicating a reliance on traditional methods over adapting to AI-driven market shifts. Partnerships (1%) and customer feedback (0.2%) are the least utilized strategies, though they can play significant roles in enhancing brand perception and customer loyalty.
What Do You Fear Most About AI Search Engines?
Nearly one-third (32%) of marketers fear AI search engines will compromise data privacy.
As AI search evolves, senior marketing executives in the U.S. worry about how it will disrupt legacy marketing strategies in the following ways:
For 32% of marketing leaders, compromised data privacy is the biggest concern. AI-driven search engines could limit access to user insights, making it harder to track consumer behavior and personalize marketing efforts. To adapt, businesses may need to invest more in first-party data collection and direct customer engagement to maintain personalized marketing strategies.
“Many people are deeply concerned about AI search engines compromising data privacy. They warn against sharing sensitive information, as AI often uses data without consent. The pervasive tracking by companies like Google raises alarms, leading to calls for stronger privacy measures and skepticism about the true value of AI services, which are seen as potential spyware.”
This senior marketing executive’s concern is echoed by consumers; a recent Pew Research Center survey found that 81% of individuals believe information collected by AI companies will be used in ways they are uncomfortable with.
In our data, another 15% fear that AI will negatively impact SEO, shifting visibility away from traditional keyword strategies and making organic search more competitive. With 57.6% of businesses already reporting increased SEO competition due to AI advancements, companies will need to rethink visibility strategies, focusing on content quality, user intent, and AI-driven search optimization.
Ten percent (10%) of marketers worry that content quality will be compromised will make it harder for brands to stand out through persuasive messaging. If AI search engines prioritize fact-based answers over promotional content, brands may need to build credibility through authoritative insights and thought leadership.
For 9%, the concern is losing control to AI—if AI search builds stronger consumer confidence in machine-generated recommendations, brand influence could weaken. To stay relevant, businesses must double down on brand authenticity and customer relationships, ensuring their messaging remains compelling even in an AI-driven landscape.
What Makes Your Target Audiences Prefer Using AI to Search Engines?
Nearly one-third (31%) say ease of use is the biggest advantage of using AI.
AI-driven search is gaining traction as users prioritize convenience and tailored experiences. Our data highlights why marketers believe their audience prefers AI:
For 31.3% of marketers, ease of use is the primary reason their target audiences prefer AI-powered search over traditional engines. Unlike conventional keyword-based search, AI tools provide conversational, intuitive interactions, making it easier for users to find what they need without sifting through multiple links. This shift means marketers must rethink how they optimize for AI-driven queries, ensuring their content is structured for natural language interactions.
“AI is marketed as a product focused on ease of use and mass production, which appeals to target audiences. This emphasis on user-friendliness is a significant factor that drives preference for AI over traditional search engines, as it simplifies the search process and enhances accessibility for users.”
This opinion aligns with findings that 24% of consumers in 12 markets reported improved research skills through AI tools, indicating a shift toward more user-friendly search experiences.
Personalization (20.8%) is another major driver, as AI learns user preferences and delivers more relevant results over time. For brands, this means investing in AI-friendly content strategies that align with user intent rather than static keyword matching. This is supported by studies showing that personalized search significantly improves decision quality, reducing the number of products consumers need to inspect.
Thirteen percent (12.9%) of marketers value improved accuracy, highlighting how AI search minimizes irrelevant results by understanding intent rather than just matching keywords. Similarly, 12% favor AI for its speed, as it eliminates the need for manual information filtering. Fast, precise responses mean businesses must ensure their content is both AI-compatible and immediately valuable to users.
Beyond convenience, 6.5% of marketers appreciate AI’s automation, allowing for hands-free interactions and predictive suggestions. However, relevance (4.7%) and cost-effectiveness (4.6%) rank lower, indicating that while AI delivers more refined search experiences, users still weigh its efficiency against cost.
For companies, this means balancing AI-powered enhancements with clear value propositions that justify any added expense. Advanced features (4.4%) and data analysis (2.7%) are niche benefits, suggesting these capabilities appeal more to specialized users rather than the general public.
How Is Your SEO Team Responding to AI Search?
Four in 10 (42.7%) SEO teams are leveraging AI-driven insights.
AI is reshaping SEO, and our audience reveals how their SEO teams are responding to AI search in different ways:
“AI can significantly enhance SEO strategies when utilized wisely. Embracing AI-powered search tools is crucial for navigating the evolving SEO landscape and boosting website visibility effectively.”
Our audience of marketers recognizes the impact of AI in search, and for 43% of SEO teams, AI-driven insights are the key to adapting to AI search. With AI search engines prioritizing context over keywords, businesses are relying on AI-powered analytics to refine content strategies, predict trends and optimize search visibility in a rapidly evolving space. Companies that fail to integrate AI-driven insights into their SEO approach risk falling behind as search engines continue to evolve.
SEO teams are already recognizing the benefits—74% of marketers now use AI tools to optimize their strategies, streamlining tasks like keyword research and content recommendations. To stay ahead, businesses should focus on creating content that AI recognizes as authoritative and user-focused rather than relying on outdated keyword-heavy tactics.
Meanwhile, 18.2% of senior marketing executives’ SEO teams are focusing on high-quality content, recognizing that AI-driven search favors well-researched, authoritative material. Fifteen percent (15.4%) are implementing technical SEO to ensure websites meet AI indexing standards, and are improving user experience (UX) (15.2%)—a sign that search teams see AI rewarding fast, accessible and intuitive web design. This highlights the increasing importance of site performance and user-centric design in AI-driven search rankings.
Traditional SEO tactics rank far lower. Only 4% of senior marketing executives prioritize competitor analysis, while just 3.3% focus on data analysis, suggesting that businesses are still experimenting with AI’s impact on search rankings. Keyword optimization (0.8%), once a cornerstone of SEO, is now seemingly nearly obsolete, as AI interprets intent rather than relying on strict keyword matching. This shift means marketers need to optimize for topic clusters, conversational queries and voice search, and AI-driven content structuring rather than individual keywords.
At the bottom of the list, mobile optimization (0.2%) and backlink strategies (0.2%) receive minimal focus, signaling a shift away from legacy ranking factors. However, neglecting mobile optimization entirely could be a mistake, as AI search still considers user experience across devices. As AI search continues to evolve, SEO teams appear to be betting on adaptive content strategies and AI-powered insights over outdated methods.
What Activities Does Your SEO Team Mainly Deliver?
More than a quarter (29%) of SEO teams focus on content creation.
Our audience reveals that their SEO teams are prioritizing content, but traditional tactics like link building and keyword research are playing a smaller role:
For 29.2% of SEO teams, content creation is the most critical activity. As AI-driven search engines prioritize relevance and intent over keyword frequency, marketers are focusing on high-quality, engaging content to maintain visibility and authority. Search remains a dominant driver of web traffic, with 53% of trackable website visits coming from organic search. Since content plays a central role in organic search rankings, it’s clear that our audience’s SEO teams are investing heavily in high-quality, relevant content to attract and retain audiences.
“Focusing on content creation is essential for effective SEO. Unique, valuable content enhances visibility and rankings, making a significant impact in a competitive digital landscape. Companies that prioritize a clear SEO strategy, including targeted content, are more likely to achieve sustainable success and foster genuine connections with their audience.”
Local SEO (24.8%) follows closely in our data, reflecting the growing importance of location-based search optimization. With AI search engines refining results based on user proximity and intent, businesses are investing in local listings, Google My Business optimization, and hyper-targeted content.
Meanwhile, 16.6% emphasize comprehensive audits, ensuring their websites meet AI-driven ranking criteria. Technical SEO (13.3%) remains a key focus as teams work to improve site speed, indexing and structured data to align with evolving search algorithms.
Traditional SEO tasks are far less prominent. Keyword research (9.6%)—once a foundational practice—has taken a backseat as AI search engines prioritize contextual relevance. Similarly, on-page optimization (2.5%) and user experience improvements (1.6%) rank low, despite their historical importance.
Rounding out the list, competitor analysis (1.5%), link building (0.6%), and analytics and reporting (0.3%) receive minimal attention, suggesting that SEO teams are shifting away from manual, data-heavy tasks and focusing more on content-led, AI-adaptive strategies.
Methodology
The data used was sourced from an independent sample of 89,561 CMOs in the U.S. from X, Bluesky, Quora, Reddit, TikTok, LinkedIn and Threads. Data were weighted to the general or online population of the United States. These questions were based on a probability sample, and responses were collected and synthesized to a 65% confidence interval and 6% margin of error. Engagement estimates how many people in the location are participating. Demographics are determined using many features, including name, location and self-disclosed description. Results are based on what people describe online—questions were not posed to the people in the sample.
About the representative sample
- 63.9% of senior marketing executives are ages 45 and older.
- 54.5% of senior marketers identify as male.
- 73.1% are located in the Pacific, East North Central and Mid-Atlantic regions.
For more information about the methodology, contact Artios Founder and CEO Andreas Voniatis at [email protected]