Summary
When customers ask AI tools for local recommendations—such as a good accountant in Manchester—the results depend far more on how often and well a business has been reviewed, written about and searched for over years than on website content. A Charlie Oscar regression analysis across 30 brands found long-term brand equity accounts for 63% of AI visibility, with total marketing spend at 22% and citation-building tactics at just 11%.
An Ahrefs study of 75,000 brands and Whitespark's survey of local search experts confirmed that four of the five highest-scoring factors for AI visibility relate to what other people and websites say about a business, not what the business says about itself. Paid advertising does not improve AI search visibility in the way it does for traditional paid search.
For Greater Manchester businesses, the practical implication is that press coverage in trade and regional publications, spots on genuine 'best of' lists, and customer reviews carry more weight for AI visibility than further website development. The work is closer to traditional PR and reputation-building than search optimisation, and conversion rates from AI-referred traffic have improved sharply—reversing from 38% worse than other channels in March 2025 to 42% better by March 2026.
Read the full story at Business Manchester
This is a summary written for the Manchester Business Services register. The full article belongs to Business Manchester — read it at source.
Common questions
- What is this article about?
- Research shows that 63% of visibility in AI search results like ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview comes from long-term brand equity rather than website optimisation. For Manchester businesses, this means press coverage, reviews and credible listings now matter more than traditional SEO.
- When was this published?
- This article was published on 1 October 2026.
- Who published this article?
- This article was published by Business Manchester.