McKinsey’s 2026 AI Index estimates the answer economy — commerce influenced by AI-generated recommendations rather than traditional search clicks — at $312B globally, growing 48% year over year.
Where value is shifting
Consumer durables, local services, and B2B software show the fastest migration from click-based funnels to zero-click AI discovery. Marketing budgets are following with a 3:1 reallocation from display and broad SEM toward corpus building and citation programs.
What leaders do differently
Top-quartile brands treat GEO as a product function: monthly citation reviews, structured fact pipelines, and executive KPIs tied to AI mention share — not just traffic.
Start with a baseline AI visibility assessment.
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