illustration: DALL-EFor companies, this means one thing: classic SEO is no longer enough. Users no longer need to browse dozens of pages and compare reviews. Today, it’s enough to ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Google AI Overview. The answer? A condensed analysis of brands, models, prices, and features - tailored to budget and needs. McKinsey’s study shows that:
- 50% of users consciously choose AI as their main shopping tool,
- 44% name it as their preferred source of information (by comparison: only 31% choose traditional search engines).
This shifts the decision-making point much earlier - before the consumer visits a website or clicks on an ad.
Time for GEO, not just SEO
Classic positioning is not enough. Companies must invest in GEO - gen AI engine optimization. It’s a new approach to visibility in a digital world that is changing faster than ever. McKinsey recommends four actions:
- Presence analysis - checking where the brand appears in AI results and what it’s missing.
- Content adjustment - creating materials not just for the website but also for external publications.
- Language optimization - clarity, specificity, timeliness - that’s what AI expects.
- GEO team - companies should appoint a dedicated team combining marketing, SEO, and data.
For now, only 16% of companies track their visibility in AI. This is a huge opportunity for those who start now. The report`s authors - Elizabeth Silliman, Kelsey Robinson, and Julien Boudet - emphasize: AI has already changed consumer behavior. Soon, it may be making purchase decisions on its own. Brands that invest in visibility will gain an edge. Those that don’t - will vanish from users’ radar.
Visibility in AI is not a coincidence
AI does not work like a classic search engine. Algorithms draw from a wide range of sources - including forum content, articles, affiliate sites, and user reviews. As a result, even market leaders may not appear in AI-generated answers at all. According to McKinsey’s report:
| Type of content source | Share in AI results |
|---|---|
| Brands’ own content | 5-10% |
| External content (forums, reviews, affiliations) | 90-95% |
Lack of presence in these sources poses a real risk of losing customers. It’s worth noting that in many industries - such as finance, hospitality, or electronics - even the biggest brands do not appear in Google AI Overview answers, despite dominating in SEO.
Full analysis available at www.mckinsey.com
COMMERCIAL BREAK
New articles in section Media industry
Radio in Poland 2025. Analysis of listenership and listener behavior
Krzysztof Fiedorek
Radio attracts 17.3 million listeners in Poland every day, who spend over four hours with their receivers. Interestingly, as much as 86 percent of station time is listened to via traditional FM waves. Despite digitalization, the internet accounts for only 12.5 percent of the listenership share.
Tags, hashtags and links in video descriptions. Youtube SEO after Gemini AI update [ANALYSIS]
BARD
Once, positioning a video on Youtube was simple. It was enough to stuff the description with keywords and wait for results. Those days are not coming back. In 2026, the algorithm is no longer a simple search engine that connects dots. It is the powerful Gemini AI artificial intelligence that understands your video better than you do.
Freelancers 2025 in media and advertising. Useme report
Krzysztof Fiedorek
The modern media and communication market presents entirely new challenges for independent creators. Traditional services are giving way to more complex forms of messaging. The most popular industries in which Polish freelancers operate focus on companies' online presence and visual content.
See articles on a similar topic:
Gen Alpha avoids tough topics. What young people are really looking for
Krzysztof Fiedorek
Generation Alpha prefers humor in 46% of cases, while only 12% are interested in news and political topics. Young people and children consciously limit what negatively affects their emotions - according to the report "Gen Alpha Unfiltered" published by GWI.
Information bubbles. Study of Instagram, Tik Tok and You Tube users
Urszula Kaczorowska
A staggering 96 percent of the time people spend online is spent on anything but consuming information. This, says Professor Magdalena Wojcieszak means ‘we have over-inflated the issue of information bubbles and disinformation.’
Algorithmic personalization study. Who and how understands digital media
KFi
Most internet users believe that everyone sees the same content online. Meanwhile, algorithms personalize messages so effectively that a young woman with higher education receives different information than her father. Researchers reveal who truly understands the mechanisms.
Disinformation and Fake News. Experts Discuss Challenges for Journalists
RINF
The pandemic, followed by the war in Ukraine, triggered a massive wave of disinformation in media and social channels. Experts at the Impact’22 Congress in Poznań and the European Economic Congress in Katowice discussed effective strategies to combat disinformation.




























