What AI search trends should we actually be preparing for in 2026? Feeling lost

Let me break down what’s actually happening vs. hype:

Confirmed and happening NOW:

1. Multimodal is real - GPT-4V, Gemini, Claude all process images. Users ARE uploading screenshots and asking “what is this?” Your product images, infographics, and charts can now be “read” by AI.

2. Real-time integration is here - Perplexity and ChatGPT with browsing pull live data. Your real-time content (pricing, availability, news) matters for AI visibility.

3. Citation is the new rank - Research shows the position in AI answers matters. First citation gets ~45% of user attention, second gets ~25%.

Coming in 2026:

Still speculative:

• Full replacement of website visits (not in 2026)
• AGI-level understanding (years away)
• Complete death of traditional search (won’t happen)

Focus on what’s measurable NOW.

From a technical perspective, here’s what you should be building toward:

API-ready architecture:

• Your inventory, pricing, and availability should be accessible via API
• AI agents need to query this in real-time
• Think of it as “crawlable” upgraded to “callable”

Structured data everywhere:

• Schema markup isn’t optional anymore
• Product schema, FAQ schema, HowTo schema
• This is how AI understands your entities

Multi-format content:

• Same information in text, image, video
• Alt text and image descriptions are now SEO
• Transcripts for all video content

The metric shift:

Old: “We rank #1 for [keyword]” New: “We’re cited in 23% of AI answers for [topic] across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini”

Tools like Am I Cited are becoming essential for that second measurement. You can’t optimize what you can’t track.

Let me add some specific predictions with confidence levels:

High confidence (90%+):

• AI Overviews will appear in 80%+ of informational searches by EOY 2026
• Average search query length will exceed 30 words (from 25+ now)
• At least 2 major AI search platforms will launch or expand significantly

Medium confidence (60-80%):

• ChatGPT will handle more queries than Bing by mid-2026
• “GEO Specialist” will be a standard marketing role
• AI referral traffic will represent 15-20% of organic traffic for most sites

Lower confidence (40-60%):

• Major publisher will negotiate $100M+ AI licensing deal
• Google will make AI Overview opt-in or significantly modify it
• Voice-first AI search will gain meaningful traction

The practical implication: Plan for the high-confidence scenarios NOW. Monitor the medium ones. Watch the lower ones but don’t bet the farm on them.

Since you asked about multimodal specifically, here’s what we’re seeing:

Current multimodal use cases:

• “What’s in this image?” (product identification)
• “Explain this chart” (data interpretation)
• “How do I fix this?” (visual troubleshooting)
• “Where can I buy this?” (visual product search)

How this affects your content:

1. Images need context - Alt text isn’t just for accessibility anymore. It’s how AI understands your visuals.

2. Infographics matter - AI can now “read” infographics and cite the data within them.

3. Product photography - Clear, informative product images can now answer questions directly.

4. Charts and data viz - These are becoming citation sources when AI answers data questions.

Quick wins:

• Audit your image alt text immediately
• Add captions to all charts and infographics
• Ensure product images show key features clearly
• Create visual content that answers common questions

The visual web is becoming part of AI’s knowledge base. Don’t let your images be invisible.

I appreciate all the forward-looking stuff, but let me offer a reality check.

What most companies should ACTUALLY focus on in 2026:

1. Get the basics right first

   • Is your content actually good?
   • Are you ranking on Google?
   • Do you have structured data implemented?

2. Then add AI layer

   • Start tracking AI visibility (Am I Cited is good for this)
   • Identify where you’re NOT appearing
   • Optimize those specific gaps

3. Don’t over-engineer

   • Most companies don’t need fancy APIs yet
   • Most don’t need multimodal strategies yet
   • Most need to answer questions clearly on their website

The 80/20 of 2026 AI search:

• 80% of value comes from clear, authoritative, well-structured text content
• 20% comes from advanced stuff like APIs, multimodal, agentic prep

Don’t let the shiny future distract you from unglamorous present work.

Building in the AI space, here’s my perspective on the 2026 landscape:

The real shift isn’t technology - it’s behavior.

Users are changing HOW they search:

• Longer, conversational queries
• Expecting direct answers, not links
• Multi-step, follow-up conversations
• Cross-platform research (start on ChatGPT, verify on Google)

This behavior shift means:

1. Content that anticipates follow-up questions wins
2. Comprehensive topic coverage beats keyword targeting
3. Trust signals matter more (AI is evaluating E-E-A-T too)
4. Brand recognition influences which answers users accept

My prediction: The companies that win in 2026 aren’t the ones with the fanciest AI tools. They’re the ones who understand the new user behavior and create content that serves it.

Same as SEO was always about understanding search intent - AI optimization is about understanding AI-mediated intent.

Since you asked about metrics, here’s what we’re tracking for 2026:

Traditional (still important):

• Google rankings
• Organic traffic
• Click-through rates

AI-specific (newly essential):

• Citation rate across AI platforms
• Share of voice in AI answers
• Position in AI responses (1st mention vs 3rd)
• Sentiment of AI brand mentions
• AI referral traffic volume

Combined view: We built a dashboard that shows traditional SEO metrics alongside AI visibility metrics. The correlation is interesting - our top Google pages are also our most-cited in AI, but not always.

Tools we use:

• Google Search Console (traditional)
• Am I Cited (AI visibility tracking)
• Manual testing queries (spot checking)

What I report to leadership: “We’re #2 on Google for [keyword] AND cited in 18% of ChatGPT queries on this topic.”

That combined view is what they need to understand our true search visibility.

This thread gave me exactly what I needed. Here’s my presentation framework now:

For the CEO meeting:

1. The Landscape (What’s Changing)

• 25% of searches will be AI-handled this year
• Multimodal and agentic AI are coming but not immediate threats
• The metric shift is from rankings to citations

2. The Foundation (What We’re Doing Now)

• Continuing traditional SEO (it feeds AI visibility)
• Tracking AI citations with Am I Cited
• Restructuring key content for AI extraction

3. The Roadmap (2026 Priorities)

• Q1: Baseline AI visibility measurement + quick wins
• Q2: Content restructuring for top 50 pages
• Q3: Evaluate API/integration needs for agentic
• Q4: Multimodal content strategy if early signals warrant

4. The Metrics (How We’ll Measure)

• Traditional: Rankings, traffic, conversions
• AI-specific: Citation rate, share of voice, AI referral traffic
• Combined: Total search visibility across all surfaces

The key message: We’re not abandoning what works. We’re expanding our visibility footprint to include AI surfaces. This is evolution, not revolution.

Thanks everyone. Feeling much more confident now.