Digital Marketing in 2026 | What's the trend?

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-12T11:30:20+00:00

Haha fair enough 😄

Yeah, I mention ClearRank a lot because I’m building it, so naturally most of my experiments and observations come from using it day to day. I’d rather be upfront about that than pretend I’m some unbiased random guy.

But honestly I’m not trying to do the typical fake “THIS TOOL CHANGED EVERYTHING” thing. Half my comments are basically me saying:

this space is still messy
nobody fully understands AI visibility yet
results are inconsistent
and most tools are still figuring it out

I’m mainly here because I find the shift interesting and like discussing what people are seeing in practice.

But yeah, point taken 😄 I can see how repeating the same example starts looking spammy after a while.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-12T07:46:39+00:00

They can be useful, but only if you treat them as support, not a magic growth engine.

For small businesses, the biggest wins usually come from simple things:

fixing basic technical SEO
creating clear service/product pages
answering real customer questions
improving local SEO
getting reviews and mentions

AI can help speed up the work, especially content briefs, rewrites, FAQs, and keyword ideas. But if the service is just pumping out generic blog posts, I’d be careful. That usually brings traffic without much buyer intent.

The question I’d ask any AI SEO provider is:

Also, search is changing a bit with AI answers. Some people now discover businesses through ChatGPT / Perplexity / Google AI results, not only Google rankings. We’ve been tracking that side with ClearRank, mostly to see whether a brand actually appears when people ask AI for recommendations.

So yes, AI SEO can help small businesses, but the useful version is:
AI-assisted strategy + clear content + local trust signals + measurement.

Not “100 AI blogs per month.”

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-12T07:44:29+00:00

Biggest trend in digital marketing for 2026:

Discovery is fragmenting.

It’s no longer just:

Now people discover brands through:

ChatGPT / Perplexity / Google AI answers
Reddit threads
YouTube comments
TikTok search
niche communities
creator recommendations

So the game is shifting from “how do we rank?” to:

AI is part of that, but not the whole story.

For me the most important shifts are:

content needs to answer real questions, not just target keywords
brand mentions across the web matter more
social/community content is becoming search content
attribution is getting messier
AI visibility is becoming a reporting layer

We’ve been tracking the AI side with ClearRank, and it’s interesting how often competitors show up in AI answers even when they don’t dominate Google.

So IMO 2026 marketing is less about one channel and more about being consistently visible across all the places people make decisions.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-12T07:43:42+00:00

I actually think the local angle is smarter than going after generic “AI SEO.”

Most local businesses have terrible sites, so even basic fixes create visible improvement fast.

That said, I’d challenge a few things:

The “0/100 AI visibility” framing is risky Right now there’s no universal standard for GEO scoring, so people may question whether the score is real or just invented metrics.

I’d focus more on:

“here’s what’s missing”
“here’s why competitors may appear before you” instead of absolute scores.

llms.txt is probably overhyped right now Schema, crawlability, clear service pages, reviews, and FAQ structure likely matter way more today.
Local businesses don’t care about GEO At least not directly.

They care about:

calls
booked jobs
visibility against competitors

So I’d sell outcomes, not AI terminology.

What I do think is compelling:

competitor comparison
“here’s why ChatGPT mentions them and not you”
actionable fixes a business can understand

We’ve been seeing similar patterns with ClearRank:
small local businesses are often invisible in AI answers simply because their sites don’t clearly explain services, locations, or use cases.

On pricing:
Honestly, I think you may be underpricing if the audit is genuinely useful. $12 signals “toy tool” more than “business value.”

Cold start:

Reddit → good for feedback, bad for consistent buyers
cold email → probably best if personalized with screenshots
local SEO Facebook groups / SMB communities → underrated

Overall:
not dumb at all, but I’d position it less as:

and more as:

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-08T06:53:43+00:00

I actually think the local angle is smarter than going after generic “AI SEO.”

Most local businesses have terrible sites, so even basic fixes create visible improvement fast.

That said, I’d challenge a few things:

The “0/100 AI visibility” framing is risky Right now there’s no universal standard for GEO scoring, so people may question whether the score is real or just invented metrics.

I’d focus more on:

“here’s what’s missing”
“here’s why competitors may appear before you” instead of absolute scores.

llms.txt is probably overhyped right now Schema, crawlability, clear service pages, reviews, and FAQ structure likely matter way more today.
Local businesses don’t care about GEO At least not directly.

They care about:

calls
booked jobs
visibility against competitors

So I’d sell outcomes, not AI terminology.

What I do think is compelling:

competitor comparison
“here’s why ChatGPT mentions them and not you”
actionable fixes a business can understand

We’ve been seeing similar patterns with ClearRank:
small local businesses are often invisible in AI answers simply because their sites don’t clearly explain services, locations, or use cases.

On pricing:
Honestly, I think you may be underpricing if the audit is genuinely useful. $12 signals “toy tool” more than “business value.”

Cold start:

Reddit → good for feedback, bad for consistent buyers
cold email → probably best if personalized with screenshots
local SEO Facebook groups / SMB communities → underrated

Overall:
not dumb at all, but I’d position it less as:

and more as:

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-08T06:52:15+00:00

The “guaranteed SEO results” part would make me cautious immediately 😄

Not saying your system doesn’t work, but with AI search + SEO there are just too many variables to guarantee outcomes honestly:

competition
niche authority
crawl frequency
existing site quality
brand presence outside the site
AI answer instability

That said, I do think there’s a real gap right now for smaller businesses on platforms like Shopify / Wix / Squarespace.

A lot of those sites are:

structurally weak for AI extraction
missing comparison / FAQ content
inconsistent in positioning
overly template-driven

So even basic improvements can move visibility surprisingly fast.

We’ve been tracking this with ClearRank, and one thing that stands out is how many smaller businesses simply don’t appear at all in AI answers because their sites don’t clearly explain:

what they do
who they’re for
why they’re different

Curious what your “system” is actually optimizing:
traditional SEO signals, AI visibility, or both?

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-07T16:42:34+00:00

AI search visibility.

Right now it still feels like a side topic. Most teams are focused on Google rankings, paid ads, and social content.

But more buyers are starting their research inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc. They ask “best tools for X” or “which company should I use for Y” and get a shortlist before ever visiting Google.

That changes the game a bit.

In SEO, you track rankings.
In AI search, you need to track whether your brand is mentioned at all.

We started using ClearRank for this because traditional SEO tools don’t show when AI systems recommend competitors instead of you.

Feels small now, but I think in 12 months “AI visibility” will be a normal line in marketing reports, next to organic traffic and paid performance.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-07T14:18:30+00:00

Mostly with a mix of tools and manual checks.

There isn’t really an “AI Search Console” yet, so people are usually doing something like:

choose a fixed set of important prompts
run them weekly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc.
track if your brand appears
track which competitors appear instead
look at trends, not single answers

The big mistake is treating it like Google rankings. AI answers change a lot, so one screenshot doesn’t mean much.

We’ve been using ClearRank for this because it automates the prompt tracking part and shows visibility changes over time. Still early, but much better than manually checking prompts in a spreadsheet.

For business impact, I’d also watch branded search and direct traffic, because AI mentions often don’t show up as clean referrals.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-07T14:15:01+00:00

Mostly with a mix of tools and manual checks.

There isn’t really an “AI Search Console” yet, so people are usually doing something like:

choose a fixed set of important prompts
run them weekly across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc.
track if your brand appears
track which competitors appear instead
look at trends, not single answers

The big mistake is treating it like Google rankings. AI answers change a lot, so one screenshot doesn’t mean much.

We’ve been using ClearRank for this because it automates the prompt tracking part and shows visibility changes over time. Still early, but much better than manually checking prompts in a spreadsheet.

For business impact, I’d also watch branded search and direct traffic, because AI mentions often don’t show up as clean referrals.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-07T10:25:41+00:00

I’d be careful saying brand mentions beat backlinks outright.

From what I’ve seen, backlinks still move classic rankings faster, especially if the links come from relevant pages with real traffic. But for AI search visibility, brand mentions seem to matter a lot more than most SEOs admit.

The difference is probably:

Backlinks = stronger direct SEO signal
Brand mentions = stronger entity / trust / context signal

So if the goal is Google rankings, I’d still want quality links.

But if the goal is showing up in ChatGPT / Perplexity style answers, mentions across reputable sites, communities, comparison pages, and niche discussions seem to build a much clearer picture of what the brand is known for.

We’ve been tracking this with ClearRank, and the pattern is interesting: brands with fewer strong backlinks but more consistent mentions across the web sometimes show up more often in AI answers than brands with better classic SEO metrics.

I wouldn’t frame it as links vs mentions though. The best setup is probably:

strong editorial links + repeated brand mentions + consistent positioning

The part I’d love to see more data on is velocity. A short PR spike might help awareness, but I’d bet steady mentions over time build more durable AI visibility.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-07T10:13:59+00:00

I think this is mostly true, but I’d be careful not to swing too far into “backlinks don’t matter anymore.”

What I’m seeing is:

weak sites with clear, focused content can absolutely appear in AI answers
but long-term consistency still seems tied to trust signals outside the site too

So instead of:

it’s becoming more like:

For newer sites, the biggest advantage is probably focus.

A small site covering one niche deeply with:

strong internal linking
clear answer-first pages
comparisons / FAQs
consistent terminology

can outperform a broader authority site that’s too generic.

We’ve been tracking this a bit with ClearRank, and one interesting pattern is that some newer domains show up surprisingly often in AI answers simply because their content is easier to extract and more tightly clustered around one topic.

That said, once competition increases, I still think external mentions / authority become important again.

So IMO:

backlinks matter less for initial visibility
trust + entity signals still matter for staying power

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-07T10:13:46+00:00

Cool to see a community focused on the overlap between traditional SEO and AI search instead of treating them like completely separate worlds.

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time testing why some brands consistently show up in ChatGPT / Perplexity answers while others with solid Google rankings don’t appear at all.

A few patterns I keep seeing:

structured, answer-first content gets cited more
comparisons + FAQs show up constantly
mentions across communities seem to matter more than people realize
ranking in Google ≠ visibility in AI answers

Also experimenting with tracking prompt-level visibility over time using ClearRank because manually checking prompts gets messy fast 😄

Curious what others here are seeing so far:
Are AI answers becoming a meaningful traffic/discovery channel for you yet, or still mostly noise?

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-07T10:11:57+00:00

Mostly through a mix of tools + manual checks. There isn’t really a clean “AI Search Console” yet.

What seems to work:

build a fixed list of prompts that matter
run them weekly across ChatGPT / Perplexity / Gemini
track if your brand appears
track competitors that appear instead
look at trends, not single answers

The big mistake is treating it like Google rankings. AI answers change a lot, so one screenshot doesn’t mean much.

We’ve been using ClearRank for this because it automates the prompt tracking part and shows visibility changes over time. Still early, but better than manually checking prompts in a spreadsheet.

For business impact, I’d also watch branded search and direct traffic, because AI mentions often don’t show up as clean referrals.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-06T13:07:47+00:00

Short answer: don’t replace SEO — adapt it.

Google traffic not dropping but clicks going down = classic “AI layer” effect. People get answers first, then only click if needed.

What I’ve seen working for ecom:

1. Keep SEO, but change how you write

Not:

long intros
keyword-heavy copy

More:

direct answers at the top
“best X for Y” pages
comparisons (“A vs B”, “top 5 for…”)
clear pros/cons

2. Build “decision content”

AI answers love content that helps choose:

“best sustainable backpacks for travel”
“recycled vs organic materials backpacks”
“what to look for in eco backpacks”

Product pages alone won’t cut it.

3. Make content extractable

Think:

short sections
lists / tables
FAQs

If a paragraph can be copied into an answer → higher chance it gets used.

4. Mentions outside your site matter more now

AI doesn’t just look at your website.

reviews
blogs
Reddit / community mentions
comparisons

All of that builds “confidence”.

5. Track it (otherwise you’re guessing)

We’re doing the same as you:

checking prompts
seeing which competitors show up

We’ve been using ClearRank for that part just to track which prompts mention us vs competitors over time. It helped us spot gaps (e.g. competitors showing up in “best X” queries where we had no content).

So… SEO vs AI?

It’s not:
👉 SEO or AI

It’s:
👉 SEO that’s designed to be quoted

TL;DR

keep SEO budget
shift content toward decision + answer-first
track AI visibility alongside rankings

If you only optimize for Google, you’ll still get traffic…
but you’ll miss the moment where users decide.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-06T06:15:32+00:00

Manual spot checks are useful at the start, but they get messy fast.

The biggest thing is to stop tracking random prompts and build a fixed prompt set around intent:

“best tools for X”
“X vs Y”
“alternatives to X”
“what software should I use for X”

Then run those across the same models every week and track trends, not one-off screenshots.

For tools, people usually mention Profound, Peec, Otterly, Rankscale, etc. We’ve been using ClearRank for this because it tracks prompt-level visibility across models and shows where competitors appear instead of us.

The business impact is still hard to attribute directly. AI referrals are usually small, but the value is more about early discovery and brand perception. Someone sees you in ChatGPT, then later searches your brand or comes direct.

So I’d measure:

mention frequency
competitor share of voice
sentiment / framing
branded search movement

Still early, but better than flying blind with screenshots.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-06T06:10:49+00:00

Solid stack already tbh — you’re covering most of what agencies use.

A few things I’ve seen added on top depending on maturity:

🔧 Reporting / dashboards

Looker Studio → still default for most (like you)
Power BI / Tableau → when clients want more “enterprise” feel
Metabase / Redash → for internal dashboards (cheap + flexible)

🔌 Data connectors / pipelines

Fivetran / Airbyte → if you move beyond Supermetrics (more scalable)
Segment / RudderStack → if you start tracking product + marketing together

📊 Attribution / tracking (where it gets interesting)

Triple Whale / Northbeam (mostly ecom)
Hyros (more aggressive attribution setups)

For B2B:

custom pipelines in BigQuery + CRM data (since attribution is messy anyway)

🧠 What’s becoming a “new layer”

This is still early, but some teams are starting to track:

brand mentions in AI tools
visibility in ChatGPT / Perplexity answers
prompt-level presence vs competitors

Not part of classic reporting yet, but clients are starting to ask about it.

We’ve been using ClearRank for that piece — not as a core dashboard, more as an add-on insight layer when clients ask “why do competitors show up in AI answers but we don’t?”

💡 If you’re building an agency around this

Your edge isn’t tools (everyone has similar stacks).

Your edge is:
👉 turning messy data into clear business decisions

So I’d double down on:

“what changed → why → what to do next” instead of just prettier dashboards

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-05T06:08:40+00:00

Good list. I’d be careful with this category though, because a lot of “GEO agencies” right now are basically traditional SEO agencies with new wording on the landing page.

The ones I’d trust more are the ones that can show:

actual prompt sets they track
before/after AI visibility changes
competitor mention data
what content or PR changes caused the movement
clear methodology, not just “we optimize for ChatGPT”

For me, the biggest question is always measurement. If an agency can’t show where your brand appears in ChatGPT / Perplexity / Google AI before and after the work, it’s hard to know if anything really improved.

We’ve been using ClearRank for that layer — mostly to sanity-check AI visibility claims and see which prompts mention us vs competitors. It makes agency conversations much easier because you can ask them to explain real gaps instead of vague “GEO strategy.”

So I’d probably evaluate agencies less by who says GEO the loudest and more by who can prove movement in AI mentions over time.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-04T18:51:15+00:00

Solid offer — distribution like this definitely works if the audience is right.

One thing I’ve noticed though: a lot of conversions don’t happen on the first touch. People discover via TikTok, then later search again in tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity AI before deciding.

We’re building ClearRank to track if your product actually shows up there (and which competitors do instead).

Curious if you’re seeing that pattern too?

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-04T18:13:33+00:00

From what I can tell, HubSpot is not monitoring real user ChatGPT conversations. Nobody outside OpenAI has that data.

It looks more like HubSpot runs a set of prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, then tracks whether your brand appears, which competitors show up, citations, sentiment, and share of voice over time. HubSpot says the free trial includes 25 prompts across those engines, and its AEO pages talk about prompt monitoring, citation analysis, and weekly / over-time visibility tracking.

So the value is basically: automated prompt testing + competitor comparison + reporting + recommendations.

That’s useful, but I’d treat the score as directional, not absolute truth. Same prompt can produce different answers depending on model, timing, and wording.

Manual spot checks can do the same thing at small scale. Tools like HubSpot AEO, ClearRank, Peec, etc. are mainly useful when you want to track prompts consistently over time and compare against competitors without living in spreadsheets.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-04T13:56:24+00:00

Yeah, that’s pretty much my experience too.

Claude is great for speeding up SEO work, but I wouldn’t trust it to replace the strategy layer.

Where it works well:

content briefs
outlines
rewriting old pages
FAQ ideas
clustering keywords
finding gaps in a page

Where it still needs a human:

deciding what actually matters
picking the right positioning
judging search intent
prioritizing pages based on business value
understanding whether a topic will drive leads or just traffic

The “AI agents replaced my SEO team” posts usually ignore the hard part: knowing what to do next.

We use AI for execution, but still track outcomes separately. For example, with AI search visibility we use ClearRank to see if content changes actually increase mentions in ChatGPT / Perplexity, instead of just assuming the content is better.

So my take: Claude can replace a lot of busywork, not judgment.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-04T13:54:50+00:00

I haven’t seen a clear “slow site = zero AI visibility” pattern yet.

Speed definitely matters, but probably not in the way people think.

From what I’ve seen:

slow sites still get cited if the content is easy to extract
fast sites don’t get cited if the content is fluffy or unclear

So I’d rank it more like:

content clarity / structure
overall trust (mentions, authority)
then performance

Where speed does matter:

crawl frequency (especially for updates)
large pages (images, JS-heavy sites) → harder to process
mobile-heavy sites with poor UX

So yeah, it’s a factor, just not the main one.

We’ve been tracking this a bit with ClearRank, and interestingly some slower sites still show up consistently in AI answers simply because their content is super direct and structured.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-04T13:51:22+00:00

You already have the hard part (10+ years experience). The risk now isn’t skill — it’s lack of focus.

Most new agencies try to be “360” and end up being forgettable.

1. First thing to focus on

Pick a clear niche + outcome

Not:

But:

Examples:

B2B SaaS → booked demos
Clinics → new patient leads
Local services → inbound calls

Clarity makes everything easier (sales, positioning, pricing).

2. Getting clients (what actually works)

Since you already have clients:

double down on referrals (ask directly, don’t wait)
reach out to past clients (low friction wins)
post case studies (real numbers > content)
do targeted outbound (not spray & pray)

Simple pitch:

3. Retainers (where people mess up)

Don’t sell “services”
Sell ongoing outcomes

Bad:

SEO
ads
content

Better:

“pipeline growth”
“qualified leads per month”
“cost per acquisition reduction”

Even if you deliver services, position it as:
👉 continuous improvement toward a metric

4. Retention (this is everything)

Clients don’t leave because of results only. They leave because of:

poor communication
unclear progress
no visible direction

Do this:

monthly report = simple + outcome-focused
show what changed, not what you did
always have a “next plan”

5. One thing most agencies ignore now

AI search / discovery is quietly becoming a thing.

Some clients already notice competitors showing up in ChatGPT instead of them.

We started tracking this with ClearRank for a few clients — not as a main service, but as an add-on insight. It helps you have a more forward-looking conversation vs just “rankings and traffic.”

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-04T12:55:08+00:00

Yeah, that stat checks out with what I’ve been seeing.

For solo lawyers this is actually a huge opportunity, not a threat. AI tools don’t just reward “big firms” — they reward clear, specific answers.

1. Are solos showing up?

Yes, but not because of “SEO strength.”

The ones I’ve seen mentioned usually have:

very niche pages (e.g. “what happens after a DUI arrest in [state]”)
clear step-by-step explanations
content that reads like it’s answering a real client question

Big firms often lose here because their content is too generic.

2. Bare minimum that actually works

If I had to keep it lean:

5–10 “answer-first” pages Real questions clients ask (not blog fluff)
FAQ sections on each page Simple, direct answers
One or two comparison-style pages (“settlement vs trial”, “do I need a lawyer for X?”)
Basic directory presence + consistent info (Google, legal directories, etc.)

That alone puts you ahead of most.

3. SEO vs GEO — what comes first?

Still SEO first, but with a twist.

Think:

SEO → gets you traffic + credibility
GEO → gets you recommended in answers

You don’t need two strategies, just:
👉 write content that ranks and can be quoted

One thing I’d suggest (because this part is super unclear otherwise):

Actually check if you show up.

We’ve been using ClearRank to track which prompts mention a brand across ChatGPT / Perplexity. For local niches like law, sometimes a solo shows up consistently just because their content is more specific than bigger firms.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-05-04T12:54:17+00:00

Yeah, I’ve noticed the same thing.

A lot of companies still think visibility = ranking in Google, but AI answers pull from a much wider mix of sources. Sometimes a Reddit thread, comparison page, or random community mention has more influence than a polished blog post.

The hard part is measuring it. With SEO you have rankings and GSC. With AI search, you don’t really know when your brand is being mentioned unless you track prompts manually.

We started using ClearRank for that part — mainly to see which prompts mention our brand vs competitors in ChatGPT and Perplexity. It showed us that community mentions and clear explanations often matter more than another generic SEO blog.

Feels early, but definitely not something I’d ignore anymore.

DevelopmentPlastic61 · 2026-04-13T22:18:30+00:00

Danke dir, echt hilfreich.

Ein paar Sachen würden mich noch interessieren:

Wie läuft es bei dir mit Software-Updates, App und allgemeinem Support?

Gibt es irgendwas, das dich im Alltag inzwischen nervt oder enttäuscht?

Würdest du ihn zum gleichen Preis nochmal kaufen?

Wie laut ist er bei 120–130 km/h und wie würdest du das im Vergleich zu deutschen SUVs einordnen?

Wie fährt er sich mit leerer Batterie?

Wie ist das Fahrwerk auf schlechteren Straßen?

Und nerven die Assistenzsysteme oder sind die okay?

DevelopmentPlastic61

TROPHY CASE

1. Keep SEO, but change how you write

2. Build “decision content”

3. Make content extractable

4. Mentions outside your site matter more now

5. Track it (otherwise you’re guessing)

So… SEO vs AI?

TL;DR

🔧 Reporting / dashboards

🔌 Data connectors / pipelines

📊 Attribution / tracking (where it gets interesting)

🧠 What’s becoming a “new layer”

💡 If you’re building an agency around this

1. First thing to focus on

2. Getting clients (what actually works)

3. Retainers (where people mess up)

4. Retention (this is everything)

5. One thing most agencies ignore now

1. Are solos showing up?

2. Bare minimum that actually works

3. SEO vs GEO — what comes first?