Should we move the entire feed budget into GEO?

No. Feed ads are still strong for acquisition and promotions. GEO is stronger for long-term perception and users who are deciding. A common path is to test GEO with a small share (often 5%–15%), then rebalance on data.

AI search is reshaping brand marketing budgets: H1 2026 notes

A turn that is already happening

For six months we tracked public media spend and procurement signals from 120 mid-to-large brands. The direction is clear: budgets are moving from “buy exposure” to “build consensus.”

Three numbers

Spend on AI search and GEO-related services is up 217% year on year
Classic feed-ad budgets are down 8.4%—the first decline in five years
63% of brands we spoke with now put “how AI describes us” on the quarterly scorecard

Why now

The shift is in user behavior. When someone picks a water-filter brand, they are more likely to ask AI “which filter is cheap to replace” than to open an e-commerce search box. The three names in that answer are the shortlist for the decision.

Industries move at different speeds

The pace varies. B2B tech, finance, and healthcare moved first—those buyers already research before they decide. Impulse-led FMCG is slower, but once the question is “ingredients” or “what it actually does,” AI matters just as much.

What this means for marketing teams

The immediate change: content’s strategic weight is rising. Content used to be creative for ads. Now the content is the asset—AI cites pages, not ad slots.

The second change is measurement. Impressions and CTR fail in AI scenes. Mention rate and first-recommend rate take their place. Many teams still lack the monitoring to see them.