Generative AI is making the product search experience more conversational, and consumers are starting to use it for recommendations.

But consumers say AI summaries are most useful for initial product exploration, and “the perceived usefulness of these summaries declines when evaluating value options, and they drop further when finalizing a purchase,” according to Gartner.

As a result, consumers are not ready to jettison traditional search, with 62% saying they use it to explore different products and services with no brand in mind, the survey found. When asked the same question about AI summaries and AI-based chatbots, just 37% and 30% of consumers, respectively, said they use them.

“Undercutting the role of SEO is shortsighted. Traditional search methods still hold a dominant position for consumers seeking to truly explore and consider their options,” according to Gartner.

The large language models that power third-party AI tools, such as Google AI Overviews, are similar to the web crawler bots behind traditional search engines, Brett Leary, generative AI transformation and global retail lead at Accenture, told CX Dive in July. They visit brand sites to gather information for training AI models, which can affect the results consumers see.

So, as more and more consumers use AI search and summaries for product research, CX leaders should consider creating and optimizing content for those results, Dorros said.

“Brands should pursue a multichannel discoverability strategy and maximize visibility by optimizing for both AI-powered overviews and traditional SEO, ensuring their content is structured, authoritative, and relevant at every stage of the search journey,” Dorros said.

Businesses can increase their chances of being cited by delivering content with clear authorship, trustworthy references and domain expertise, according to Gartner. 

Gartner also recommends that brands “optimize for zero-click” because many users will find answers without visiting a company’s website. Prioritizing formats like FAQs, lists and concise definitions can help brands boost visibility by making that information easy to extract by both search and answer engines, such as ChatGPT, according to Gartner.