![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/LinkedIn-post-ranking-1-on-ChatGPT.png\"\/)
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On Google, being the first result is often a golden ticket.<\/p>\n
Going from No. 2 to No. 1 in Google search will often result in 100%-300% increases in traffic<\/a> and conversions.<\/p>\n This is almost certainly not the case with AI responses \u2013 even if they weren\u2019t constantly changing.<\/p>\n Our team\u2019s research shows AI users consider an average of 3.7 businesses before deciding who to contact.<\/p>\n Being the first result in that list on ChatGPT isn\u2019t the golden ticket it is in Google search.<\/p>\n This being the case, the focus of AI search really should be on \u201cinclusion in the consideration set\u201d \u2013 not necessarily being \u201cthe first mentioned in that set\u201d \u2013 as well as crafting what AI is saying about us.<\/p>\n User behavior on AI platforms differs from Google search<\/p>\n Over the past several months, my team has spent more than 100 hours observing people use ChatGPT and Google\u2019s AI Mode to find services.<\/p>\n One thing came into focus within the first dozen or so sessions: User behavior on AI platforms differs from Google search in ways that extend far beyond using \u201cnatural language\u201d and having conversations versus performing keyword searches.<\/p>\n Which is overstated, by the way. About 75% of the sessions<\/a> we observed included \u201ckeyword searches.\u201d<\/p>\n One key difference: Users consider more businesses in AI responses than in organic search.<\/p>\n It makes sense \u2014 it\u2019s much easier to compare multiple options in a chat window than to click through three to five search results and visit each site.<\/p>\n Dig deeper: From searching to delegating: Adapting to AI-first search behavior<\/a><\/p>\n AI users don\u2019t stop at the first result<\/p>\n In both Google AI Mode and ChatGPT, users considered an average of 3.7 businesses from the results.<\/p>\n This has strong implications for the No. 1 result \u2013 as well as No. 4.<\/p>\n The value of appearing first drops sharply \u2014 and the value of appearing lower rises \u2014 when, in 75% of sessions, users also consider businesses in Positions 2 to 8.<\/p>\n What\u2019s driving conversions isn\u2019t your position in that list.<\/p>\n Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n Why do businesses with lower rankings end up in the consideration set in LLMs?<\/p>\n First of all, these aren\u2019t rankings.<\/p>\n They are a list of recommendations that will likely get shuffled, reformatted from a list to a table, and completely changed, given the probabilistic nature of AI.<\/p>\n That aside, AI chat makes it much easier to scan and consider more options than Google search does.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at the Google search results for \u201cfractional CMO.\u201d<\/p>\n If a user wants to evaluate multiple fractional CMO options for their startup, it\u2019s more work to do so in Google Search than in ChatGPT.<\/p>\n Only two options appear above the fold, and each requires a click-through to read their website content.<\/p>\n Contrast this with the experience on ChatGPT.<\/p>\n The model gave them eight options, along with information about each one.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to read all eight blurbs and decide whom to explore further.<\/p>\n Which leads to the other thing we really need to focus on: what the model is saying about you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up.\n <\/p>\n \n The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.\n <\/p>\n \n Start Free Trial\n <\/p>\n Get started with<\/p>\n <\/a>\n<\/p>\n A bigger driver than being first on ChatGPT: Being a good fit<\/p>\n Many search marketers focus on rankings and traffic, but rarely on messaging and positioning.<\/p>\n This needs to change.<\/p>\n In the case of the response for an ophthalmologist in southern New Jersey, you get an easily scannable list:<\/p>\n Roughly 60% make their entire decision based on the response, without visiting the website or switching to Google, according to our study.<\/p>\n So how do you drive conversion?<\/p>\n Deliver the right message \u2014 and make sure the model shares it.<\/p>\n Dr. Lanciano may be the best glaucoma specialist in the area. But if the model highlights Ravi D. Goel and Bannett Eye Centers for glaucoma care, and that\u2019s what the user needs, they\u2019ll go there.<\/p>\n Bannett Eye Centers appears last in the AI response but may still win the conversion because of what the model says about it \u2014 something that rarely happens in Google Search.<\/p>\n Visibility doesn\u2019t pay the bills. Conversions do. And conversions don\u2019t happen when customers think someone else is a better fit.<\/p>\n Dig deeper: How to measure your AI search brand visibility and prove business impact<\/a><\/p>\n As SEOs shift toward Dig deeper: , a mindset shift needs to occur<\/p>\n We\u2019re still thinking about AI search<\/a> the way we\u2019ve thought about SEO.<\/p>\n In SEO, the top result captures most of the traffic. In AI search, it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n AI users consider more available options.<\/p>\n Responses \u2014 and their format \u2014 change dramatically with each request.<\/p>\n \u201cWinning\u201d in AI search means getting into the consideration set and being presented compellingly.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not about being first on a list, especially if what\u2019s said about you misses the mark.<\/p>\n In other words, SEOs who think like copywriters and salespeople will drive outcomes for their organizations.<\/p>\n Dig deeper: Is SEO a brand channel or a performance channel? Now it\u2019s both<\/a><\/p>\n \n Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff<\/a> and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush<\/a>. Contributor was not asked to make any direct or indirect mentions of Semrush<\/a>. The opinions they express are their own.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We need to have a talk about KPIs and AI search. I\u2019ve observed numerous SEO professionals on LinkedIn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,6884,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-434596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-opinion","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/The-average-AI-chat-user-considers-3.7-businesses.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Google-SERPS-Fractional-CMO.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"ChatGPT](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ChatGPT-Fractional-CMO.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Semrush](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/semrush-one.webp.webp\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/A-bigger-driver-than-being-first-on-ChatGPT-Being-a-good-fit.png\"\/)
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