How to Manage Your Brand Reputation in AI Search (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot)

How AI Shapes Online Reputation

AI is evolving quickly, particularly when it comes to AI search tools like ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and more. Content strategies that involve optimizing content for traditional ranking factors are quickly becoming less and less effective, while the popularity of AI search continues to grow. To gain control of your online reputation, it’s crucial to understand how consumers use AI, how AI can affect your overall reputation, and what you can do about it.

What is AI reputation management?
AI reputation management is how your brand is described, compared, and recommended across AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. It’s shaped by reviews, third-party content, and how clearly your site explains what you do.

Do consumers use AI to research brands, products, and services?

Yes, a 2025 study conducted by University of Virginia Darden School of Business found that nearly 60% of users use AI when shopping, while nearly 77% claim that AI improves their ability to make quicker decisions. 

According to an early 2025 survey by Attest, nearly half (49%) of US citizens are likely to use AI, such as ChatGPT, while researching brands, products, and services.

What does this mean for traditional search?

Traditional search engines are not dead, but they are evolving to integrate AI. We’ve seen Google’s AI overviews not only featured at the top of the page, but also in People Also Ask results, knowledge panel graphs, and more. The accessibility and speed of these AI features and tools, however, ARE helping users search faster and more frequently, in turn unearthing even more insights & considerations that users may not have found via traditional search. 

What are the most commonly used AI search tools in 2026?

In the same 2025 survey from Attest, over half (52%) of consumers favor ChatGPT as their most-used AI search tool, with Google Gemini and Microsoft CoPilot as runner ups. 

How does online reputation influence AI search results?

1. Brand Presence & Awareness

Many consumers are using AI for product discovery. Rather than searching for a brand and product directly, they may start with a query like “best desktop mount for home office under $100.” 

AI eliminates the need for the consumer to comb through dozens of search engine results, click into multiple pages, scroll through content to find prices and other information, and so on. Instead, the AI searches dozens of additional queries, comparing hundreds of brands, products, and prices, resulting in a short list of recommendations for the user to consider. You may have the best product, service, and price in your market, but if you aren’t optimized for AI tools, you can be skipped over. 

On the flip side, AI can be a big opportunity to tap into a new audience that may not have come across your brand via traditional search methods. This can be achieved with SEO and GEO services, but it’s important to have a strong handle on your online reputation as well. Without ORM, earning visibility in AI search may open a can of worms for your reputation.

2. Credibility, Quality & Trust

AI doesn’t pull from SERP results page by page, only citing the top ranking content. With the inclusion of query fan-out, AI tools can pull from hundreds of sources, and these sources aren’t bound to the traditional ranking factors and criteria that search engines typically use.

That negative Yelp listing from an old location, a 10-year-old negative article, or the 15-year-old online forum that hasn’t been updated in years? AI can use sources like these to conclude overall consumer opinions, ratings, and pros and cons for your brand. Suppressing this content to page 2 and 3 isn’t cutting it anymore. From Grok to CoPiliot, upwards of 42 URLs can be listed in their citations, all from a single user-generated prompt! 

On top of this, popular AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini often list both pros and cons when responding to reputation, quality, or consumer opinion-related prompts. You can have highly positive page 1 results, and an AI tool may still cite negative sources and sentiment around your brand, based on the query. 

Additionally, traditional review ratings maintain a strong influence on consumers, and specific star ratings are likely to be cited by LLM’s as well. A 2023 study we conducted found that there is a 70% decrease in consumer trust when seeing a 3 star rating or lower. 

3. Competitor Comparisons

A late-2025 study by Deloitte found that 56% of consumers planned to use AI “to compare prices and find deals,” while 47% planned to use it to research reviews and consumer opinions on brands and products during the holiday season. If your site, products, or services aren’t optimized for non-branded queries, AI could skip your brand altogether. Additionally, if you do appear in AI responses, but have poor ratings and overall online reputation, AI can skew recommendations against you, decreasing consumer trust without ever reading the reviews directly or seeking out other reputation sources.

In addition to a strong SEO/GEO strategy, a strong ORM strategy can help identify, track, and manage the overall sentiment of your brand, ensuring that when you do show up, sentiment leans positive. Some AI tools still aim to be balanced and not favor one brand over another, however we can work to increase the amount of positive resources the AI can pull from, combating any negative content that may also be included.

AI search vs traditional search: what’s different for reputation

How to improve your brand’s reputation in AI search

Is there still value in Traditional Online Reputation Management?

We know that many consumers are favoring AI search over traditional search more each day, accelerating the shift from traditional keyword searches to long-tailed, specific queries, but this does not mean that traditional search & online reviews are irrelevant. 

You can have success at earning a presence in AI with strong SEO and GEO strategies, however a positive online reputation helps to ensure that your AI presence remains favorable. This can include review management & improvement, content optimization & promotion, new, 3rd-party content opportunities, and more. Traditional ORM practices are still crucial to any brand’s online presence, and at Go Fish, our services are continuously evolving to stay ahead of the AI curve. 

Start your AI reputation audit. See how your brand is described across AI search, and where it’s helping or hurting visibility.

FAQs about AI and online reputation