How to Rank in AI Search When Buyers Ask Who’s Best

BLUF: Your buyer’s shortlist now starts with a paragraph Google’s AI writes for them, before they ever reach your website. Here’s how to rank in AI search when your buyer asks who’s best: put your proof on your own pages in numbers, earn an independent source that says the same thing, and show up where your buyers compare notes. I ran three real category searches in October 2026, in healthcare, retail and higher ed, and Google’s AI rewarded those same three things every time.

By Nicola Ziady | Published: October 25 2026 | From Reacting to Anticipating

What ranking in AI search means when your buyer asks who’s best

Your buyer types a category question before they know your name. Best hospital for transplant surgery. Best public university for co-op. What jeans are in style.

Google now answers with an AI Overview: a short written answer at the top of the page that names a few organizations and links the sources it used. Ranking in AI search means being one of those names.

It’s spreading fast. According to DemandSphere’s daily tracking, AI Overviews appeared on 26.12% of branded searches on September 1, 2026, and on 82.06% by September 29. That’s searches for brand names, where people already know who you are. The category question comes one step earlier, and it decides who gets considered at all.

3 search 1 pattern

Three searches, one pattern: what Google’s AI trusted

I ran each search, read who the AI named, and checked every source it cited.

01

Healthcare: “best hospital for transplant surgery”

The AI named Mayo Clinic first, describing it as “the largest integrated transplant provider” with “top survival outcomes,” then Cleveland Clinic and Piedmont Atlanta.

Sources :: Its sources were Mayo’s own page and Definitive Healthcare data on which hospitals perform the most transplants.

Full disclosure: I used to work at Cleveland Clinic.

02

Retail: “what jeans are in style right now”

The AI credited Levi’s and Madewell for straight-leg cuts replacing ultra-baggy fits, and Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch for loose ’90s styles, including low-rise.

Sources :: Its sources were a fashion editor, a YouTube creator and Reddit. The sponsored products sat below the AI answer.

03

Higher ed: “best public university for co-op”

The AI named the University of Cincinnati as the number one public university for co-ops and internships, citing U.S. News. It told the origin story, that co-op began at UC in 1906, then listed outcomes in numbers.

Sources :: Its sources were U.S. News, UC’s own page and Reddit.

Full disclosure: UC is where I lead marketing.

Put the three side by side and the pattern is hard to miss … Reddit appeared as a source in all three.

Google SERP for "best transplant hospital"
Google SERP for "what jeans are in style now"
Google SERP for "best public university for co-op"

How to rank in AI search: three moves that earn your place

01

Put your proof on your own pages, in numbers.

Mayo doesn’t call itself excellent. It says it’s the largest integrated transplant provider, and the AI repeated the phrase.

UC publishes co-op outcomes, and the AI repeated those too.

Key Takeaway :: Adjectives get skipped. Numbers get quoted.

02

Earn the independent source.

U.S. News backed the co-op answer. Outside transplant data backed Mayo.

Key Takeaway :: The AI wants someone other than you to say it, so treat rankings, research and press coverage as core marketing work.

03

Show up where your buyers compare notes.

This goes beyond my three searches. In a 2026 audit of 5,130 AI answers and 13,308 citations across 13 UK consumer categories, reported by Naureen Mohammed in Marketing Week, Reddit was the second most-cited source overall. Google’s AI Overviews drew 6.3% of their citations from Reddit, while ChatGPT cited it in about 2% of answers.

Key Takeaway :: You earn a place there by being useful, in your own voice, repeatedly. The same Marketing Week piece advises earning genuine discussion rather than seeding it.

One caution from the same research: citation counts swing month to month for reasons unrelated to your brand. Watch the pattern, not the number.

Your campaign spend may not reach the AI answer

On Levi’s most recent earnings call, CEO Michelle Gass admitted the back-to-school campaign missed. Shoppers wanted low-rise, and in her words, “it just wasn’t our leading message,” according to MediaPost.

In the AI answer I saw, low-rise was credited to Gap and Abercrombie. Levi’s was credited for straight-leg.

Campaigns still sell. They just aren’t what the AI quotes, at least not quickly. What it quotes is the story told consistently, by you and by others, for years. Co-op has been UC’s story since 1906.

The scale problem is real, too. A study of nearly half a million AI answers, run by Vaer AI for Lightspeed Commerce and reported by Search Engine Land, found ChatGPT and Gemini recommended large national chains 63% to 70% of the time with web search turned off, versus about 10% for small independents. The study was vendor-commissioned, and the direction matches what I saw: the machine is already choosing who gets considered.

Check yours today

Your ten-minute check: how to track competitor rankings in AI search

Time needed: 10 minutes

The ten-minute check: Ask your buyer’s question, see who AI names, read its sources.

  1. Ask the question your buyer asks before they know your name

    Search it signed out, in a guest window, so your history doesn’t shape the answer.

  2. See who’s named in the AI answer

    Note whether it’s you.

  3. Read the sources

    Rankings and data, your own pages, or real people talking.

  4. Make the three moves where you’re missing

    Add proof in numbers on your pages, earn an independent source that backs it, and build a presence where your buyers compare notes.

  5. Repeat for your competitors + repeat quarterly

    Every name the AI lists instead of yours is a competitor ranking ahead of you. Repeat the check every quarter. The answers change, and so will your place in them.

What this means for your team

This is what I call the shift from reacting to anticipating, Shift 2 of the 5 Shifts of Marketing Leadership. Reacting is waiting for traffic to fall before asking why. Anticipating is checking what your buyer will see before they see it.

Four things to take back to your team:

  1. Your buyer’s first shortlist is written by AI, before they visit your site, open your email or see your campaign.
  2. What the AI trusts when it chooses is evidence and consistency: rankings, outcome data, what real people say, and a story told the same way for years.
  3. Campaign spend may not reach that answer quickly. It still sells. It just isn’t what the AI quotes.
  4. You can check this in ten minutes. Ask the question your buyers ask, see whether you’re named, read the sources, and fix what the AI is reading.

Your next customer’s shortlist is being written before they ever reach you. When did you last read it?

FAQ

What does it mean to rank in AI search?

Ranking in AI search means being one of the names an AI answer recommends when your buyer asks a category question, such as “best hospital for transplant surgery.” In Google, that answer is the AI Overview at the top of the results page.

How do I get my brand recommended by Google’s AI?

In Nicola Ziady’s October 2026 tests, Google’s AI rewarded three things: proof in numbers on the brand’s own pages, an independent source backing the claim, such as U.S. News, and a presence in places where buyers compare notes, such as Reddit.

Does Reddit affect how AI search ranks brands?

It can. Reddit was a cited source in all three of Nicola Ziady’s test searches. A 2026 audit reported in Marketing Week found Reddit was the second most-cited source overall, with Google’s AI Overviews drawing 6.3% of their citations from it and ChatGPT about 2%.

Do ads help you rank in AI Overviews?

Not in these tests. In the retail search, sponsored products appeared below the AI answer, and the AI credited brands based on editorial, creator and community sources.

How do I check whether AI search ranks my brand?

Search the question your buyer asks, signed out, in a guest window. Note who the AI names, then read the sources it cites. The check takes about ten minutes and is worth repeating every quarter.

Does this work for ChatGPT and Perplexity?

The three moves apply across AI search engines, but each engine leans on different sources. A 2026 audit reported in Marketing Week found Google’s AI Overviews drew 6.3% of their citations from Reddit, Perplexity 4.4%, while ChatGPT cited Reddit in about 2% of answers. Run the same check in each engine your buyers use.

Who is Nicola Ziady?

Nicola Ziady is a software engineer turned CMO with two decades of marketing leadership in healthcare and higher education. She created the 5 Shifts of Marketing Leadership and the Invisibility Paradox, and she tests each shift in marketing on her own work before turning it into frameworks leaders can use.

Sources

About the Author

Nicola Ziady shares insights on marketing leadership and strategy, focusing on transitioning from executing to leading, and leveraging AI and new frameworks. Topics: AI impact on marketing teams, invisibility paradox in AI search, AI citation strategies, best AI tools 2026, zero-click search, how top brands respond to trends. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaziady