Answer Engine Optimization and AI Visibility: Azoma on What Brands Should Look for in AEO and AI Visibility Tools

46% of AI users now start purchase research on AI platforms. Azoma sets out which AEO and AI visibility tools help brands track how they are represented and recommended

London, Sept. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Azoma, the Agentic Commerce Optimization platform that helps brands drive revenue through AI shopping agents like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Amazon Rufus and Walmart Sparky sets out what brands should look for in answer engine optimization (AEO) and AI visibility tools, as the shift to AI-driven product discovery accelerates.

According to a July 2026 survey of 2,650 U.S. consumers by L.E.K. Consulting, 46% of AI users now begin their purchase research on a stand-alone AI platform such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Claude, up from 25% in 2024. Traditional search has fallen from 43% to 24% over the same period. For brands, the inversion raises an immediate question: if nearly half of shoppers are now starting on AI, how does my brand appear when they ask? AEO and AI visibility tracking are the disciplines built to answer it.

Key Facts

• Answer engine optimization (AEO): the practice of improving how a brand shows up in AI-generated answers, covering product data, content, and the third-party sources agents cite.
• AI visibility: how often, how accurately, and in what context a brand appears when AI shopping agents answer questions about its category.
• Discovery shift (L.E.K. Consulting, July 2026): 46% of AI users now start purchase research on AI platforms, up from 25% in 2024; traditional search has fallen from 43% to 24%.
• Each agent cites differently (Azoma analysis of millions of shopping agent citations, Q2 2026): ChatGPT 41% earned media / 37% retailer; Gemini 41% retailer / 37% earned media; Sparky 36% earned media / 30% brand.com; Alexa for Shopping 73% affiliate / 16% earned media.

What's the best AI visibility platform?

The AI visibility category is new, and Azoma has been at the centre of pioneering it. Azoma holds patents in AI shopping visibility monitoring technology, co-authored the industry's first measurement framework - the 5 C's of Agentic Commerce, with the Digital Shelf Institute - and published ond of the first large-scale analysis of which sources AI shopping agents cite when recommending products. Azoma works with the enterprise brands furthest ahead in AI visibility and AEO, including L'Oreal, Unilever, Mars, Beiersdorf, and Reckitt, providing prompt-level tracking, citation-source analysis, competitive benchmarking and optimization workflows across ChatGPT, Gemini, Amazon Rufus, Alexa for Shopping, Walmart Sparky and Perplexity.