AI Search in 2025: Three Key Insights from BrightEdge's AI Overview and ChatGPT Analysis

The AI search landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, and our latest data from BrightEdge's Generative Parser™ and AI Catalyst reveals patterns that every SEO and marketing professional needs to understand as Generative Engine Optimization becomes the norm. As users shift from traditional searches to AI-powered experiences, we're witnessing fundamental changes in how information is discovered and presented.

Here at BrightEdge, we’ve continued to analyze tens of thousands of queries and prompts across ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews. There are four critical themes that are reshaping digital marketing strategies right now.

1. The 76% Convergence: Same Brands, Different Stories

One of our most striking observations is the overlap between ChatGPT and AI Overviews when it comes to brand recommendations. Our AI Catalyst analysis of shopping prompts revealed that these platforms recommend the same brands 76% of the time—but how they present these brands couldn't be more different.

A Tale of Two AI Approaches

While both platforms lead with selection and variety (51-54% of mentions), their storytelling diverges dramatically:

• ChatGPT: The Comprehensive Catalog
  • Emphasizes selection/variety in 54% of responses
  • Mentions deals/pricing in 50% of recommendations
  • Uses functional language ("offers," "provides") three times more frequently
  • Adopts a "this platform offers..." mindset
• AI Overviews: The Selective Curator
  • Emphasizes selection/variety in 51% of responses
  • Mentions deals/pricing in only 41% of recommendations
  • Focuses on competitive positioning
  • Takes a "better than competitors..." approach

Real-World Example: Textbook Shopping (As seen in AI Catalyst)

Notice how both platforms recommend similar textbook sites like Chegg, CampusBooks, and VitalSource, but ChatGPT highlights their services ("significant discounts and additional services like homework help") while AI Overviews emphasizes market position ("vast marketplace offering competitive prices").

The Language Divide

One of the things BrightEdge AI Catalyst allows users to do is analyze the way each of the AI Search engine talks about brands. This is significant because this isn’t language from a page snippet or a meta description. This is how the generative AI is describing your brand. What’s particularly interesting is that ChatGPT is far more likely to use words like “offers”, “provides” or “enables” implying they are describing what products or shopping locations can do for the user. This 3x difference in functional language usage reveals fundamental differences in how these platforms conceptualize brand recommendations.

Strategic Opportunity

This convergence proves you don't need separate websites or radically different content strategies for each platform. The winning approach? Create comprehensive content that showcases your selection while explaining your unique value. Quality content that covers the right bases wins everywhere.

2. The Volume Divide: ChatGPT's Marketplace vs. Google's Curation

Perhaps nothing illustrates the fundamental difference between these platforms better than how they handle brand recommendations in shopping queries. When we compare shopping queries, even though there is a rank overlap with 76% of the brands mentioned, ChatGPT is likely to recommend more brands. In fact we see that 43% of the time they recommend brands, there’s more than 10. AI Overviews? Only 4.7% of the time.

The Numbers Tell the Story

• ChatGPT operates like a digital marketplace:
  • Includes 10+ brands in 43.9% of responses
  • Maintains consistent brand inclusion across all query types
• AI Overviews function as selective curators:
  • Include 10+ brands in just 4.7% of responses
  • Show dramatic variation based on query intent

Query Intent Drives Visibility

Percentage of Prompt Types where Brands are Recommended

The data reveals fascinating patterns in how user prompts influence brand visibility:

• "Where to buy" prompts: AI Overviews include brand recommendations 39.3% of the time
• "Deals/coupons" prompts: AI Overviews include brand recommendations only 12.2% of the time
• Adding "buy online" to any query: Increases the likelihood of AI Overviews including brands by 33.9 percentage points

This suggests that Google may be relying on other SERP features (shopping carousels, product grids, sponsored listings) for commercial queries, while ChatGPT creates comprehensive brand marketplaces within its responses.

3. Device Divergence: Mobile and Desktop Serve Different Masters

Our analysis reveals that mobile and desktop AI Overviews aren't just different sizes—they're fundamentally different products targeting distinct user behaviors. This is very evident when queries could trigger things like shopping carousels.

The Mobile Experience

Mobile AIO’s reveal a fascinating paradox: while mobile AI Overviews take up less screen space, they're actually doing more heavy lifting for e-commerce queries. In fact, throughout the past month, we observed a 3x higher appearance rate for shopping queries on mobile.

What's really happening here is that mobile AI Overviews are filling a different role in the purchase funnel. While desktop might skip AIOs for transactional queries (letting shopping grids handle it), mobile uses AIOs as an educational bridge—helping users understand product categories, compare options, and make informed decisions before they tap through to buy. It's less about immediate transactions and more about guiding discovery, which explains why mobile e-commerce AIOs appear so much more frequently despite having less screen real estate to work with.

The Desktop Experience

Desktop AI Overviews are essentially playing a different game than mobile. The 80% larger screen real estate isn't just about size—it's about Google having the space to deliver comprehensive, authoritative answers that can truly compete with traditional search results.

The consistency factor is particularly telling: desktop AIOs appear more predictably because desktop users have different expectations and behaviors. They're typically in research mode, sitting down for longer sessions, ready to digest detailed information. Meanwhile, mobile's variability suggests Google is still experimenting with how much information to show users who are on-the-go.

The 39% higher keyword coverage on desktop reinforces our thesis about device divergence—Google is essentially building two different products. Desktop gets the full treatment because users expect depth, while mobile remains selective, knowing that users need quick answers and that other SERP features (like shopping carousels) can handle transactional needs. This isn't just a responsive design choice; it's a fundamental difference in how Google conceptualizes the role of AI Overviews across devices

Strategic Implications for Marketers

This divergence clearly indicates that Google is treating these as separate products:

• 80% more screen space on desktop means more detailed explanations and citation opportunities
• Create mobile-first educational content and product guides, not just product pages
• Content strategy may need to be different for mobile and desktop Generative Engine Optimization

Strategic Imperatives for the AI-First Era

These insights point to clear actions for marketers navigating the AI search landscape:

1. Unified Content Strategy

With 76% brand overlap, create content that performs across platforms while acknowledging their different presentation styles. Focus on

• Leading with selection/variety or top use cases
• Including functional benefits as part of your optimization strategy
• Using competitive advantages and core differentiators
• Tracking brand sentiment across prompt types

2. Understand the Query Landscape

The surge in long-form queries shows users type conversationally. Your content needs to:

• Optimize for geographic and contextual variations
• Answer specific situational combinations, not generic info
• Mirror natural language patterns over keywords

3. Device-Specific Optimization

Recognize that mobile users are in discovery mode while desktop users seek comprehensive information:

• E-commerce brands especially need mobile-first AIO strategies
• Desktop content should be more detailed with citation opportunities
• Consider different content approaches for each platform

4. Depth Over Breadth

With AI Overviews becoming more selective but detailed:

• Create authoritative content that addresses complete user contexts
• Focus on comprehensive answers that showcase expertise
• Ensure your website clearly displays purchasing options
• Provide buying guides that convey your brand's distinct identity

5. Track Cross-Platform Performance

Monitor how both ChatGPT and AI Overviews describe your brand:

• Track mention patterns across all AI platforms
• Monitor referral traffic from different AI sources
• Use tools like BrightEdge's AI Catalyst for comprehensive visibility

The Bottom Line

The data is clear: AI search isn't just an evolution of traditional search—it's a revolution in how users interact with information online. With ChatGPT creating digital marketplaces and Google's AI Overviews acting as selective curators, with users asking increasingly complex questions, and with mobile and desktop experiences diverging dramatically, the landscape demands new strategies.

The winners in this new landscape will be those who understand these patterns and adapt their strategies accordingly. The good news? You can optimize once and rank everywhere—but only if you understand how each platform tells your story differently.

With technologies like BrightEdge's AI Catalyst and Data Cube X providing visibility into these changes, marketers can stay ahead of the curve and ensure their content thrives in the AI era. The key is understanding that while the brands may be the same, the stories these AI platforms tell—and the users they serve—are fundamentally different.