AI & SEO Trends Update - 12th August 2026

Since our last AI and SEO trends update, there has been no new confirmed Google ranking update. However, the way people discover, compare and engage with businesses through AI search has continued to develop quickly.

The biggest news for UK marketers is the launch of ads in ChatGPT. At the same time, Google has expanded access to its generative AI reporting, made social and video performance reporting more widely available and continued testing ways to introduce more users to AI Mode.

There are also signs that AI search is moving further down the customer journey, and new research is giving marketers a clearer understanding of how AI systems select, cite and present content.

Here is what has changed, what it means and what businesses should consider next.

Overview of New Developments

• ChatGPT Ads have officially launched in the UK.
• Early research provides an indication of how ads are appearing alongside commercial ChatGPT conversations.
• Google Search Console’s generative AI report is appearing for more website owners.
• Search Console platform properties for social and video accounts are now globally available.
• Google is testing more prominent AI Mode entry points on its desktop homepage.
• New citation research suggests Google AI Mode frequently selects specific passages from authoritative pages.
• Further research demonstrates why citations and visible brand mentions should be measured separately.
• Consistent brand and business information is becoming increasingly important within AI-generated search results.

ChatGPT Ads Have Officially Launched in the UK

On 11th August, OpenAI confirmed that ChatGPT Ads had launched in the UK, alongside Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea. The test applies to logged-in adults using the Free and Go tiers. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education accounts remain ad-free.

OpenAI says ads are clearly labelled and visually separate from the organic answer. It has also stated that advertising does not influence the answer ChatGPT provides.

This gives businesses two distinct routes to visibility within ChatGPT:

• Earning inclusion within an AI-generated answer
• Paying for a sponsored placement alongside the conversation

These opportunities can support one another as part of a wider strategy, but they serve different purposes and require separate measurement. Early research also provides an indication of how the advertising experience is developing. In a study of more than 50,000 commercial prompts across 20 industries, SE Ranking found ads on 25.94% of the prompts tested.

Only 3.63% of the advertisers were also cited in the associated answer, illustrating that paid placement and organic AI visibility are currently operating as separate channels. This is third-party research rather than official platform data, so the figures should be treated as an early snapshot.

Nevertheless, they provide a useful starting point for understanding the developing ChatGPT advertising environment.

What This Means For You

For businesses with commercial audiences, ChatGPT Ads are now a channel worth exploring. The strongest initial opportunities are likely to involve high-intent conversations in which people are actively comparing providers, products, services or solutions.

Performance should ultimately be judged on qualified traffic, enquiries and conversions rather than impressions alone. At the same time, advertising should not replace the work required to earn inclusion within AI-generated answers.

Your PPC strategy and AI SEO strategy can support the same commercial objectives while using different tactics and reporting frameworks.

Google Search Console’s AI Report Is Reaching More Websites

Google’s generative AI performance report is now appearing in Search Console for more website owners.

The report breaks down impressions from Google’s AI search experiences by:

• Date
• Country
• Device
• Landing page

This is a meaningful progression from the limited rollout we covered in previous updates. Google has confirmed that access depends on a website generating sufficient data, so the report will not necessarily appear in every Search Console account immediately.

The current version focuses primarily on visibility. It does not yet show the prompts that triggered an appearance or provide the same click, click-through rate and average position metrics available within traditional Search Console reporting.

However, it gives marketers another useful source of information for identifying which pages and subject areas are gaining visibility within Google’s generative search experiences.

What This Means For You

If the report is available in your Search Console account, use it to identify which pages, countries and devices are generating the strongest AI visibility.

These findings can then be compared with:

• Organic landing-page performance
• Website conversions
• Branded search demand
• AI referral traffic
• Citation monitoring
• Enquiry quality

The aim is to build a connected picture of how AI visibility contributes to the customer journey. If the report has not appeared in your account, there is no manual setting required. Continue monitoring Search Console and use other indicators of AI visibility while Google expands access.

Social and Video Reporting Is Now Globally Available in Search Console

In our July update, we covered Google’s gradual rollout of Search Console platform properties. Google has now confirmed that the feature is globally available. Eligible businesses and creators can see how content from supported accounts, including YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, performs across Google Search, Discover and Google News.

The report can provide information about:

• Clicks and impressions
• Top-performing social and video content
• Search appearances
• Audience countries
• Performance over time

This gives marketers a clearer view of how off-site content contributes to search visibility. It also reflects a wider change in search behaviour. People increasingly encounter brands through videos, social posts, profiles and third-party platforms before visiting the company’s website.

What This Means For You

Check whether Search Console has created a platform property for your organisation or creator account. Use the data to identify the subjects, formats and platforms attracting the most visibility through Google. These insights can then inform your website content, social campaigns and wider marketing strategy.

Social and video reporting should not be viewed as a replacement for website SEO. Instead, it adds another layer to the picture and helps businesses understand how brand discovery is distributed across the wider search ecosystem.

New Research Shows How Google AI Mode Selects Passages

A new analysis of 15.7 million Google AI Mode citations suggests that Google’s systems frequently cite specific passages rather than simply selecting a page as a whole. The study found that 47.7% of citations used a scroll-to-text highlight, directing users to a particular section of the source page. The typical highlighted passage was approximately 117 words.

The study also identified a relationship between pages containing multiple cited passages and strong traditional rankings. The researchers are clear that this is a correlation rather than proof that one directly causes the other, but it indicates that many of the qualities supporting organic performance can also support AI visibility.

The practical lesson is not to create dozens of artificial “AI-ready chunks”. Instead, useful pages should be easy to understand at both page and section level. A clear heading, direct explanation, supporting evidence and enough context for a passage to make sense independently can help human readers as well as AI retrieval systems.

What This Means For You

Review commercially important pages and identify sections that are vague, repetitive or dependent on information found elsewhere on the page.

Strengthen them with:

• Clear explanations
• Specific examples
• Original insight
• Relevant statistics or evidence
• Defined processes and terminology
• Answers to logical follow-up questions

The page should remain coherent and valuable for a human reader. However, each important section should also communicate a complete and useful idea. Traditional SEO foundations continue to matter. This research suggests that pages performing well organically are also frequently selected by AI Mode, making AI SEO an extension of strong search and content strategy rather than a replacement for it.

If AI-supported production is part of your workflow, a hybrid AI content approach can help combine efficiency with genuine subject expertise and editorial quality.

Citations and Brand Mentions Offer Two Types of AI Visibility

Further research has highlighted an important distinction between being cited as a source and being named within an AI-generated answer.

Writesonic analysed approximately 16 million brand appearances and found that a significant proportion of citations did not display the source brand prominently within the generated response. The study described these as “ghost citations”.

This does not reduce the value of citations. Instead, it demonstrates that citations and brand mentions can deliver two different forms of visibility.

A citation can:

• Demonstrate that an AI platform considers the content a useful source
• Give users a route to visit the website
• Support referral traffic and conversions
• Indicate authority around a particular subject

A visible brand mention can:

• Build recognition and familiarity
• Associate the organisation with a subject or service
• Influence later branded searches
• Support consideration even when the user does not click

Both outcomes can be valuable, but they should not be treated as identical. As with all vendor-led research, the commercial context and methodology should be considered. However, the underlying distinction gives marketers a more useful way to evaluate AI visibility.

What This Means For You

Measure citations, visible brand mentions, AI referral traffic and conversions separately. This makes it possible to understand whether your content is being used as a source, whether your brand is appearing within answers and whether that visibility is contributing to meaningful business outcomes.

It also creates opportunities to improve different parts of the strategy. Citation performance can be supported through detailed, well-structured and authoritative content. Visible brand recognition can also be strengthened through digital PR, consistent brand signals, expert commentary, original research and coverage on trusted third-party websites.

We explain these differences in our guide to brand mentions versus citations in AI search. For B2B organisations, it is also worth exploring how these signals contribute to the wider B2B answer-engine opportunity.

Consistent Brand Signals Are Becoming More Important

AI-generated search features draw information from websites, business profiles, review platforms and other third-party sources. This makes consistent entity information increasingly valuable. When a business is described clearly and consistently across trusted sources, AI systems have more reliable signals to use when identifying the organisation and understanding what it offers.

Recent reports have shown that similar business names, outdated details or inconsistent third-party information can occasionally create confusion within AI-generated results. For SEO agencies and their clients, this creates another opportunity to strengthen visibility by connecting website optimisation with brand, profile and reputation management.

The goal is to help search engines and AI platforms confidently understand:

• Who the business is
• Where it operates
• What products or services it provides
• Which topics it has expertise in
• How it differs from similarly named organisations
• Which sources represent the most accurate information

What This Means For You

Include important branded searches within regular AI visibility monitoring. Test company-name queries alongside relevant services, products and locations across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and other platforms used by your audience.

It is also worth reviewing:

• Google Business Profile information
• Organisation and LocalBusiness structured data
• Company descriptions on trusted directories
• Social media profiles
• Review platform information
• Author and expert profiles
• Contact and location details
• References from authoritative third-party websites

Strong, consistent entity information makes it easier for search engines and AI systems to connect your brand with the correct services, expertise and locations. This is an increasingly valuable part of AI SEO because it supports both citation visibility and the accuracy of the information presented to potential customers.

Google Is Testing More Ways to Send Users Into AI Mode

Google has confirmed a limited desktop homepage test of new AI-powered buttons.

The test includes prompts such as:

• Create images
• Ask about files
• Brainstorm

Each button takes the user into an AI-powered search experience. This is currently a limited experiment, so it should not be treated as a permanent interface change. Nevertheless, it shows Google exploring AI Mode as a starting point for broader tasks rather than simply an alternative way to answer a conventional search query.

What This Means For You

Discovery journeys are likely to become longer and more conversational. A prospective customer may ask for ideas, upload a document, compare several approaches and refine their requirements before entering a recognisable commercial query.

Content should therefore support exploration as well as conversion. Businesses can do this by clearly explaining:

• Available options
• Important trade-offs
• Common processes
• Pricing considerations
• Suitable use cases
• Questions customers should ask
• How different solutions compare
• The logical next step

This gives AI systems useful material to draw upon throughout the research journey while helping prospective customers make informed decisions.

Google Clarifies Its Review Markup Guidance

Google has added clearer wording to its review snippet structured data guidance. The guidance states that reviews should reflect a genuine customer experience and that fake or undisclosed incentivised reviews should not be included within review markup.

Where a reviewer receives money, discounts, free products or another benefit, that relationship should be clearly and prominently disclosed.

What This Means For You

Review structured data should be treated as part of a wider trust strategy rather than as a purely technical SEO task. Businesses should review how testimonials and customer reviews are collected, displayed and marked up. Genuine reviews, clear disclosure and accurate structured data can strengthen trust with users while helping search engines interpret the information correctly.

This also supports AI visibility because authentic first-party and third-party evidence can help demonstrate the experience and credibility behind a brand.

Conclusion: What to Look Out For

The most significant development in this update is the arrival of ChatGPT Ads in the UK. AI search now has a clearer paid layer, but early evidence suggests that paid visibility and organic inclusion offer different opportunities. Businesses should test and measure them separately while ensuring both support the same wider commercial goals.

At the same time, AI customer journeys are becoming more measurable and actionable. Search Console is giving marketers additional visibility data and social and video reporting is expanding the picture beyond websites.

New citation research is also helping marketers understand how content is selected. Clear, authoritative passages within genuinely useful pages can support traditional rankings and increase the likelihood of inclusion within AI-generated answers.

The strategic priority is not to chase every interface change. It is to build a connected system in which accurate brand information, valuable content, technical accessibility, third-party authority and effective measurement reinforce one another.

What We’ll Be Monitoring

Over the next few weeks, we will be watching:

• How quickly ChatGPT Ads become available to UK advertisers
• The targeting, formats and reporting options offered by OpenAI
• How paid and organic ChatGPT visibility interact throughout the customer journey
• The continued rollout of Google’s generative AI report to additional Search Console properties
• Whether Google adds clicks, queries or clearer attribution to AI reporting
• Further integrations that allow users to book, buy or enquire inside AI assistants
• The impact of social and video platform properties on cross-channel reporting
• How Google AI Mode selects and presents cited passages
• The relationship between citations, brand mentions and AI-generated referral traffic
• Any confirmed Google core, spam or reviews update

If you would like help understanding how these changes affect your visibility, our Angelfish Marketing can help by auditing your current position and identify the most valuable opportunities for increasing citations, brand mentions and qualified visibility.

Let’s talk.