Semrush Survey: Only 22% of US Marketers Have Fully Integrated AI Search Into SEO Strategy

Only 22% of US marketers said they had a fully integrated AI search and SEO strategy, according to a Semrush survey of 481 US marketers, business owners, and SEO professionals conducted in April 2026. The remaining respondents described gaps in coordination across teams.

Business Insider reported that large language models draw from corporate blogs, news articles, Reddit discussions, and YouTube videos, making inconsistent brand messaging across channels more visible in AI outputs.

Leigh McKenzie, director of online visibility at Semrush, said companies previously operated in a siloed approach where the brand team handled social media separately from the SEO team’s blog work and customer success teams paid limited attention to Reddit mentions.

When asked about problems with AI search, 37% of respondents said competitors appeared more often than their own brand. Thirty percent said their brand was described inaccurately, and 29% said their positioning came across as unclear or generic.

Companies have assigned responsibility for AI search in different ways. Eighteen percent reported a dedicated GEO specialist or team, 16% placed it within the SEO department, 15% assigned it to content teams, and 14% shared it across multiple teams. HubSpot ranks third in the business and professional services category in Semrush’s latest quarterly brand visibility index report.

HubSpot CMO Kipp Bodnar said the company never treated answer engine optimization as a separate team or strategy from SEO. Bodnar said the integrated approach allowed HubSpot to move faster, avoid duplicate work, and create a more consistent experience across traditional search and AI-driven discovery.

McKenzie said companies executing best in AI search show up across channels in a more cohesive way.

McKenzie said she has a much bigger seat at the leadership table than she had two years ago as the SEO team’s role has grown within Semrush.