Do you know what the fifth most visited website in the world is?

According to SimilarWeb, ChatGPT holds that title with more than 2 billion visits each month. Every outbound link includes a UTM tag, which means brand visibility inside AI answers is already measurable — this isn’t theoretical anymore.

This is where GEO comes in. Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring your content and brand presence so that AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini can find, understand, and cite you in their responses.

If your brand is not showing up inside AI engines, you are invisible to the next wave of commerce.

I saw this dynamic firsthand at Pinterest when I launched the global WooCommerce integration. Distribution only mattered when merchants were actually discoverable at the moment of intent. A merchant could have the best product in the world, but if they weren’t surfaced when a Pinner was ready to buy, the integration was worthless.

The same logic applies to AI search today. Showing up matters more than ever — but showing up means something different now.

The numbers back this up. 70 percent of consumers say they are open to using AI for shopping decisions. 60 percent of marketers believe AI recommendations will drive purchase decisions within two years.

AEO/GEO is not a trend to watch. It is here, it is measurable, and it will define the future of commerce visibility.

Originally published on LinkedIn, August 2025.