Search isn’t ten blue links anymore. It’s an answer, generated on the spot by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode, often before a single click happens.
Keeping up with every AI search update and LLM news drop is a full-time job in itself, which is why we built this page. It’s Found’s running tracker of the GEO updates and AI SEO news that actually move the needle, filtered through our Everysearch™ lens and translated into your next move.
Google AI Mode now sometimes powered by Gemini 3.7 Flash | August 2026
Google has started serving Search AI Mode answers with Gemini 3.7 Flash for a subset of queries, confirmed by its VP of Search on 14 August. The rollout is worldwide but English-only for now, and limited to AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers. It’s a quiet swap on the surface, but it changes the model doing the synthesising and citing behind AI Mode’s answers, which means the sources it favours, the phrasing it reaches for, and the brands it chooses to surface can all move without warning.
Found’s take: whichever model sits behind AI Mode decides who gets cited and how your brand gets described. A model swap is a visibility event, not a footnote.
Do this next: re-baseline your AI Mode citation and answer monitoring now, so any shift in visibility is attributable to the model change rather than noise. Our AI SEO and GEO tracking is built for exactly this kind of re-baselining.
Shopify data: AI-referred sessions up 197%, organic search still leads | August 2026
Shopify’s Q2 2026 merchant data shows AI-referred sessions up 197% year-on-year, with orders roughly tripling, while organic search kept growing at a steadier 12% and still sends more overall traffic than every AI platform combined. In research-heavy categories, AI-referred visits are converting at around twice the rate of organic. It’s the clearest commercial proof yet that generative engines have become a genuine revenue channel, sitting alongside organic performance rather than cannibalising it.
Found’s take: AI search has earned its own budget line and its own reporting, without pulling investment away from organic.
Do this next: build dedicated AI-channel reporting into your commercial dashboards, tracking AI-referred sessions and conversion rate separately. Our Data & AI team can get this instrumented properly.
AI cites brands widely, but only recommends where they hold topical authority | August 2026
Analysis of Semrush AI Visibility data across roughly 1,094 ChatGPT categories (January–June 2026) found that brands are cited outside their core niche fairly often, but only actively recommended in categories where they hold close, repeated topical authority. A category is only “won” through consistent mentions over time, not a single lucky citation.
Found’s take: citation volume alone is a vanity metric. Recommendation, not mention, is what actually drives commercial share of voice inside AI answers, so spreading content thin earns visibility without earning preference.
Do this next: concentrate content investment in your core topic clusters and track category-level share of AI recommendation, not just citation count. This is central to how our AI Search and content strategy work builds topical authority.
Search Console platform properties now live for everyone | July 2026
Google has made platform properties in Search Console globally available, letting brands claim their Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube accounts and see exactly how that content performs inside Google Search, backed by a new analysis guide. It’s first-party query and click data for content that lives off your own domain, closing a measurement gap that’s existed since social and video content started ranking directly in search results.
Found’s take: for the first time, you get genuine first-party visibility data on how your social and video presence performs in Google Search, rather than third-party estimates.
Do this next: claim platform properties across every verified social and video account, and use that data to see which off-site content is actually earning visibility in Google Search. Our Social and Influencer Marketing team can help you turn it into a cross-platform strategy.
Yelp licenses reviews and business data to OpenAI’s ChatGPT | July 2026
Yelp is now licensing its reviews, ratings, photos and business details directly to OpenAI, so ChatGPT can answer local queries using Yelp data, complete with Yelp branding and links, with a “Request a Quote” integration to follow. It’s a direct pipeline from a major local review platform straight into an LLM’s answers, turning Yelp profile quality into a genuine factor in how ChatGPT describes and recommends local businesses.
Found’s take: for local and multi-location brands, Yelp completeness and review health are now a real GEO surface, not just a directory listing to tidy up occasionally.
Do this next: audit and strengthen Yelp profiles, review volume and response rates as part of your local GEO work. Our local SEO team can build this into your wider visibility strategy.
AI search isn’t slowing down, and neither are we. Found tracks every meaningful shift across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode, then turns it into a commercial action list for your brand. Whether that’s the technical set-up behind AI search, the content that earns authority, or how your brand shows up in citations, our AI SEO and GEO teams can help. Make every search count. Get Found.
FAQs
Don't stress, we've got
Answers are increasingly generated directly inside ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode, often before a user ever clicks through to a website. That shifts the goal from ranking for clicks to earning citations and recommendations inside AI-generated answers, alongside traditional organic performance rather than instead of it.
Start by measuring where you currently stand: track AI citations and recommendations by category, keep first-party data (like Search Console’s platform properties) up to date, and make sure off-site profiles that feed LLMs, such as Yelp, are accurate and complete. Then concentrate content and authority in your core topics rather than spreading thin.
Our Everysearch™ approach, powered by Luminr, monitors how your brand appears across every searchable platform, including AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity, and pairs that data with strategic content and technical recommendations. Get in touch with Found to see where your brand currently stands.
