James Reynolds, Founder, SEO Sherpa‘Why is my brand nowhere to be found in AI Overviews?’ That’s the question I’ve heard more than once in recent weeks, and with good reason.
Artificial intelligence (AI) search has officially landed in the Middle East. Google’s AI Overviews are now live in the region. ChatGPT is being used as a search engine replacement. Tools like Perplexity and Claude are gaining ground fast. For many brands, it feels like search has changed overnight.
Here’s the problem: Most marketers still optimise for yesterday’s rules.
When search engines were simple, the goal was clear: rank on Google. But AI doesn’t operate on rankings. It operates on recognition. And if your brand isn’t already part of the AI conversation, you risk becoming invisible to the next generation of buyers.
That’s the pain. Now here’s the opportunity: AI doesn’t find brands by accident. It finds them by design.
Welcome to the AI ecosystem
When someone types a query into ChatGPT, the AI doesn’t ‘search’ like Google does. It doesn’t crawl the web in real time. Instead, it draws on trained data, embedded sources, and cited references from trusted sites. AI search doesn’t just reward keywords. It rewards citations.
This means visibility in AI depends not just on being searchable but also on being mentionable across platforms, content types, and time.
Why platform dominance matters
The best way to get cited by a large-language model (LLM)? Be everywhere.
If your brand appears across PR stories, social platforms, YouTube transcripts, Reddit threads and top-ranking articles, it becomes impossible to ignore. AI models mimic the consensus of trusted sources. That consensus is built by volume, consistency and authority.
We see this play out constantly. At SEO Sherpa, we’ve helped Middle Eastern brands show up in Google’s results, AI Overviews, ChatGPT answers and Perplexity’s sources. The key is expanding the content ecosystem through a strategy we call Search Everywhere Optimisation™. Ensuring your brand shows up across all digital environments where people (and AI) seek information.
This goes beyond typical SEO. It’s about owning your brand presence across search engines, platforms and AI environments.
The three-pillar strategy: PR, distribution and branded search
Let’s break it down. To earn a place in AI search engines, you need three core elements:
1. Digital PR for authority and reach:
Mentions in high-authority publications don’t just win backlinks — they win citations. And not just from humans. From AI.
Think Gulf Business, Arab News, Zawya. These are sources AI trusts. Every article you appear in becomes training data for tomorrow’s chatbots. When we generate citations for clients in this region, we’re not just building links. We’re building brand memory in the minds of machines.
2. Content distribution for visibility at scale:
It’s not enough to create good content. You need to seed it across platforms: LinkedIn, YouTube, podcasts, Pinterest, Quora, even TikTok.
Why? Because AI scrapes it all. Not always in real time, but over time. When that same brand shows up in video subtitles, blog posts, social commentary, and forum discussions, it becomes contextually ‘trusted’ by LLMs.
This is where a regional twist matters. If you’re based in Dubai, speak to local issues. Create content that answers questions relevant to Middle Eastern buyers. It won’t just help you win on Google. It’ll help AI platforms link you to region-specific queries.
3. Branded search for memorability:
The holy grail? Branded searches. When people Google you by name, not your category, it sends a strong signal to algorithms and AI models: your brand is already known.
This builds digital primacy. The more branded search volume you have, the more likely it is AI models will cite you over competitors.
How do you fuel branded search? Thought leadership. Original insights. Speaking at regional events. Getting quoted in reputable publications. The more your name circulates, the more it sticks.
The shift is here. The opportunity is now.
Search is no longer a single-player game. We’re not just optimising for Google anymore. We’re optimising for everywhere decisions happen – many of which are powered by AI.
This is where Search Everywhere Optimisation™ becomes essential. It’s a mindset shift that expands your brand’s discoverability far beyond traditional SEO, aligning content, PR and visibility efforts with the full spectrum of platforms and engines shaping modern search behaviour.
Your brand needs to be recognisable across digital touchpoints. Not just a logo, but a consistent voice, message and presence. That’s what LLMs notice. That’s what earns you visibility – and citations.
For marketers in the Middle East, the timing couldn’t be better. The region is hungry for digital growth. But most brands are still focused on legacy SEO tactics. That gives you an edge.
Start now. Build authority, distribute content, own your brand terms, and you can leapfrog the competition.
Because in the age of AI, the best way to win is simple: Be the brand they already know, even if ‘they’ is an algorithm.
By James Reynolds, Founder, SEO Sherpa
