89% of enterprise leaders say AI-powered search improved their marketing performance in 2025. Most of them, however, are still figuring out how to measure it.

For their latest report, AI search and discovery, Branch surveyed 300 enterprise marketing, growth, and digital leaders to understand how organisations are responding to AI-driven discovery — from ChatGPT and Perplexity to Google’s AI Overviews. The results point to a market moving quickly, but not always with full visibility into what is actually driving results.

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The report covers how optimisation strategies are evolving across industries, where measurement gaps are emerging between perceived and actual performance, and where teams are placing their bets for 2026 and beyond. The report also brings in perspectives from operators across the ecosystem, including MoEngage, M+C Saatchi Performance, Capacity Interactive, and Yodel Mobile.

Key findings

AI search is not replacing traditional search — both are growing

Enterprise leaders expect traditional SEO to remain a major traffic driver, but AI search is growing even faster. By the end of 2026, traditional SEO is expected to drive ~53% of website traffic on average, while AI search could drive ~50%, meaning companies must manage both channels simultaneously rather than choose between them.

AI search is already improving marketing performance

89% of enterprise leaders say AI-powered search and LLM platforms improved marketing performance in 2025. The impact is not limited to SEO teams; it affects performance marketing, product marketing, CRM/lifecycle marketing, and analytics teams as discovery shifts into AI platforms.

Companies are shifting budgets heavily toward AI search

65% of enterprise leaders are dedicating at least 25% of their 2026 marketing budget to AI search optimisation, and 28% are allocating more than half. Nearly all companies (98%) are already optimising for AI search or planning to within the next year, focusing on “crawlability,” AI-friendly content formats, structured data, and tracking AI-driven traffic.

AI platforms are expected to become transaction channels

87% of enterprise leaders believe AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews will directly close sales within the next 12 months, not just drive discovery.

Measurement is the biggest challenge

While many leaders say they are confident measuring AI-driven conversions, the reality is different:

• 26% cannot track the user journey from AI discovery to conversion
• 24% say analytics tools are not ready for AI attribution

AI often influences conversions indirectly (e.g., users discover a brand via AI but convert later through search or direct traffic), making attribution difficult.

Top concerns around AI search

The biggest concerns among enterprise leaders are:

• Accuracy and transparency of AI outputs
• Data privacy and security
• Internal readiness and skills

Measurement and ROI are concerns, but surprisingly lower than expected.

AI search is already influencing discovery, budgets, and strategy, but companies are moving faster than their measurement infrastructure and attribution tools can support. The companies that succeed will focus on measurement, cross-channel attribution, and tracking AI’s influence on conversions, not just traffic.

Download the report to see where enterprise teams are investing, what they are getting wrong, and what to prioritise next.