From “Right to Answer” to “Category Differentiation,” GEO Becomes the Key for Brands to Win the “Last Mile”
ShanghaiJune 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Last November, WPP Media Shanhaijin released the first AI search marketing white paper, proposing a proposition that sparked industry discussion: When consumers start conversing with AI to aid purchase decisions, brands’ marketing goals must evolve from “being seen” to “being trusted.” Whoever becomes the authoritative source cited by AI wins the new “right to answer.”
Six months later, the trend has not only slowed but accelerated and deepened. The 57th CNNIC report shows that by the end of 2025, China’s generative AI user base has exceeded 600 million, while traditional search engine users have declined by over 10% in the same period. The latest Shanhaijin research confirms this, indicating that the proportion of AI search users leveraging AI for consumption decisions has increased from 30% to 34%. The “right to answer” has shifted from a forward-looking judgment to an unfolding reality.
Behind this shift lies a fundamental evolution of search itself. Globally, WPP is systematically deploying a “Total Search” strategy, with the core assessment that AI assistants have fully evolved from “search traffic gateways” into “answer engines.” Consumers’ questions are answered directly by AI, rather than redirecting to external websites. This trend is particularly pronounced in China, where local AI platforms like Doubao and DeepSeek are driving the formation of the world’s largest generative AI search user base at an accelerated pace.
This second white paper, titled “Total Search Relay, Winning in AI Search,” reveals two major battlegrounds: defending “must-answer“ categories (home appliances, 3C, luxury goods, cosmetics), and seizing “quick-answer“ categories (snacks, fast-moving consumer goods). Based on a systematic scan of nearly 8,000 valid samples and 15 consumer goods categories, it presents four core findings.
Finding 1: Search Gain Index, a New Yardstick for Measuring GEO Investment Value
The search touchpoints consumers rely on differ vastly between “browsing casually” and “seriously intending to buy.” The report introduces the “Search Gain Index” for the first time to quantify this shift: When consumers transition from daily browsing to actual purchase decisions, which touchpoint sees the highest increase in usage?
The answer is AI assistants, whose gain index ranks first among six touchpoints, significantly higher than e-commerce, content, and official brand channels.
The value of this metric lies in enabling brands to move beyond intuition about “whether AI search is important” to answering, with data, “at which stage it matters most and by how much.”
(It should be noted that, to accurately assess the driving force of search on purchases, all category-level analyses in this report are based on strict sample screening: consumers who exhibited clear search behavior before purchasing the category. This ensures that all subsequent findings reflect the genuine “search → purchase” pathway, rather than generalized user behavior.)
Finding 2: Three Progressive Divides, Mapping the Category GEO Investment Landscape
Not all categories follow the same GEO investment logic. The report layers three dimensions to provide brands with a pathway from macro-level to precise positioning:
First Divide: Search Dependency. Do consumers in a category search before buying? High-decision categories like automobiles, home appliances, and luxury goods show significantly higher search dependency than FMCG categories, forming the basic premise for GEO investment.
Second Divide: AI Search Rate. Among those who search, how many use AI? Cosmetics, home appliances, and luxury goods lead the average in AI search rates, indicating higher information fragmentation in these categories, inadequacy of existing tools, and the fastest AI substitution speed.
Third Divide: Search Gain Index. For those using AI to search, how strong is the push toward purchase?
By overlaying this dimension, the 15 categories clearly split into two strategic zones:
“Must-Answer” Categories (cosmetics, home appliances/3C, luxury goods, etc.): Consumers already use AI search frequently in daily decisions. GEO is foundational infrastructure; brands that neglect it will be consistently absent from critical decision-making moments.
“Quick-Answer” Categories (automobiles, mother and baby, snacks and beverages, etc.): AI search rates are around or below the average, but the gain index is significantly high. Brands that invest in GEO early have the opportunity to build a first-mover advantage at relatively low cost. Notably, the gain trigger logic varies across different “quick-answer” categories: for automobiles, the gain comes from compressing and integrating multi-dimensional information; for mother and baby, from periodic knowledge gaps due to child development; for snacks, beverages, and household cleaning, from instant recommendation needs triggered by specific pain points.
Finding 3: A Counter-Intuitive Pattern: The Less a Category is Searched, the Greater the AI Gain
The categories with the highest AI search gain are not those with the strongest search dependency, but rather FMCG categories with the lowest daily search needs. Snack and beverage consumers rarely rely on search in daily life, but when they ask AI with specific pain points, the path from search to purchase is the shortest among all categories, and the gain jump is the largest.
This means that GEO investment logic cannot solely rely on the absolute value of AI search rates; it must also consider the investment gain. For some categories, although AI search frequency is low, each trigger has an extremely strong driving force on purchases.
Finding 4: Even for GEO, Strategic Priorities Vary by Category
The report provides a complete breakdown of “decision-making patterns + post-AI search behavior + GEO case studies” for four representative categories: home appliances/3C, luxury goods, cosmetics, and snacks/beverages. It finds significant differences in consumer behavior patterns and subsequent intent directions within AI:
Home Appliances/3C: Search dependency in home appliances/3C ranks among the highest across categories, leading to a leading AI gain, establishing GEO as the top priority for this category.
Luxury Goods: Pre-purchase information needs for luxury goods are equally strong. During the decision-making stage, the gain indices for AI assistants and open search rise in tandem, presenting a “AI learning + search engine verification” cognitive supplementation structure. Thus, AI and open search are both high priorities, necessitating a dual-track strategy for luxury goods GEO marketing.
Cosmetics: Search dependency for cosmetics is slightly weaker than for home appliances and luxury goods but remains in the strong dependency range. During the decision-making stage, the search gain indices for AI assistants, official brand channels, and e-commerce touchpoints rise simultaneously. Hence, brands urgently need “triple-channel synergy.”
Snacks and Beverages: Daily purchase search dependency for this category is low. However, the AI search gain index stands out among all categories—the less consumers search in daily life, the greater the decision-driving power of AI when a pain point is triggered. Therefore, “scenario-based positioning” is a breakthrough opportunity for the snacks and beverages industry.
There is no one-size-fits-all GEO content strategy that covers all categories. Brands must tailor their AI content approach based on the decision-making characteristics of their category’s consumers and the intent direction after AI searches.
To this end, WPP Media recently launched the GEO solution “IDEAL 2.0,” designed to help brands achieve sustainable growth in the AI era and build a long-term, stable, and trustworthy brand image. Through a dynamic closed loop of “Intent Identification – Deconstructing the Status Quo – Evaluating Sources – Anchoring Needs – Dashboard Monitoring,” it helps brands continuously and precisely capture growth opportunities.