AI search in 2026: how UAE businesses get cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode
Fewer searches end in a click, and more questions are answered by AI. Here is what changed this year, and the practical steps that make a business easy for AI tools to find, trust and cite.
Key takeaways
- About 68% of Google searches in the US ended without a click in early 2026, up from about 60% in 2024 (SparkToro, using Similarweb data).
- AI Overviews now appear on a far larger share of searches than a year ago, and visits to Google AI Mode more than doubled (Similarweb, via TechCrunch).
- Being cited inside an AI answer now matters alongside ranking. It depends on clear facts, structured data and pages that answer questions directly.
What changed in search this year
Search behaviour moved faster in 2026 than in any year since smartphones arrived. A June 2026 study by SparkToro, based on Similarweb's US clickstream panel, found that 68% of Google searches between January and April 2026 ended without a click to any website. In 2024 the same measure was about 60%. Put simply, fewer than one in three Google searches now sends a visitor anywhere.
AI answers are a large part of the reason. According to Similarweb data reported by TechCrunch in July 2026, Google's AI Overviews went from appearing in about 15% of searches to 43% within roughly a year, and monthly visits to Google AI Mode grew from 126 million in June 2025 to 279 million in May 2026. The same report notes that searches are getting longer and more conversational, and that the number of AI answers carrying a citation rose more than fivefold.
ChatGPT is changing too. After a search update in May 2026, the share of US desktop ChatGPT visits that went on to a web page rose sharply, from about a quarter in March to nearly 60% by the end of May, according to the same Similarweb figures. AI assistants are becoming a referral channel, not only a replacement for search.
What GEO means
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the work of making a business easy for AI tools to understand, trust and cite. Traditional SEO aims for a high position in a list of links. GEO aims for your business to be named, quoted or linked inside the answer itself.
The two overlap heavily. AI systems still read the web, so a fast, crawlable site with useful content remains the foundation. What GEO adds is a focus on clarity: stating facts in a form a machine can lift, verify and attribute.
Seven steps that make a business easy to cite
- State who you are in one sentence. Put a plain definition on your homepage and About page: who you are, what you do, where, and since when. AI answers are often built from sentences like this.
- Answer questions in the first line. Use question-style headings, then answer directly in the first sentence before adding detail.
- Add structured data. Organization, LocalBusiness, Service, Article, FAQPage and BreadcrumbList schema remove guesswork about what a page is.
- Keep your name, address and phone identical everywhere. Your website, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn and directories should match exactly.
- Publish things only you can say. Original data, real project lessons and clear opinions are more citable than rewritten generic advice.
- Let AI search crawlers in. Check that robots.txt does not block crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot or PerplexityBot, and submit your sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools as well as Google Search Console.
- Consider an llms.txt file. It is an emerging, optional convention: a short plain-language map of your site for AI tools. It is not a confirmed ranking signal, but it is quick to add.
How to measure AI visibility
Clicks from AI tools are still small for most businesses, so measure in three ways rather than relying on one number.
- In analytics, create a segment for referrals from chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com and copilot.microsoft.com.
- In Google Search Console, watch impressions as well as clicks. Rising impressions with flat clicks often means you are being shown inside AI Overviews.
- Once a month, ask the main AI assistants the questions your customers ask, such as the best provider of your service in Dubai, and record whether and how you are mentioned.
Writing pages that AI can quote
AI answers tend to lift short, self-contained statements. Compare two ways of describing the same business:
| Hard to quote | Easy to quote |
|---|---|
| We are passionate about delivering world-class digital solutions for ambitious brands. | Old Port Solutions LLC is a Dubai agency that builds mobile apps, websites and brand identities for businesses in the UAE. |
| Our team has years of experience across many industries. | Founded in 2021, the team has worked with more than 100 brands across India and the UAE. |
| Get in touch to learn about our competitive pricing. | Projects are quoted after a free discovery call; a website typically starts with a written scope and staged timeline. |
The right-hand column names the entity, states a fact, and can stand alone if it is copied into an answer. The left-hand column could describe almost any company, so it gives an AI system nothing to attribute.
Common mistakes we see
- Key facts hidden inside images, sliders or PDFs, where crawlers and AI tools read them poorly.
- Different business names, phone numbers or addresses on the website, Google Business Profile and directories.
- Service pages that describe everything in general terms and never say where, for whom or how.
- FAQs written as marketing slogans rather than real questions with direct answers.
- Blocking AI crawlers by accident through an overly broad robots.txt rule or security plugin.
What this means for UAE businesses
Local questions are where AI answers are most decisive: which agency, clinic, school or supplier to choose in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. These answers lean on consistent business information, reviews, and pages that describe services in specific, local terms.
The practical takeaway is to treat your website as a source of record. Every important fact about your business should be stated clearly, kept up to date and marked up. That is the approach behind our own SEO and AI search visibility service, and it is how this website is built.
Questions and answers
What is generative engine optimisation (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of making a business easy for AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews to understand and cite. It relies on clear facts, structured data and content that answers questions directly.
Is SEO still worth it in 2026?
Yes. AI systems still read and rank web pages, so technical SEO and useful content remain the foundation. What has changed is that fewer searches end in a click, so being cited inside AI answers matters more.
Does llms.txt improve rankings?
There is no confirmed evidence that it does. It is an optional, emerging convention that gives AI tools a plain-language map of your site. It takes little effort to add.
How long does GEO take to show results?
Technical fixes and clearer facts can be picked up within weeks. Broader visibility in AI answers builds over months as your content, reviews and mentions grow.
