There's a natural temptation to look at how Google AI Overviews or ChatGPT work and draw a quick conclusion: big players win, everyone else loses. A recent study published on Search Engine Journal, based on BrightEdge data from the travel industry, seems to confirm exactly that. American Airlines holds 26.6% visibility in Google AI Overviews, Hilton 28.3%, Expedia 31.3%.
The numbers are real. But the story doesn't end there.
If you stop at the headline, you miss the most important part of the data: only 9% of monitored prompts have transactional (booking) intent. The remaining 91% are inspiration, comparison, and evaluation queries. And in that space, big-brand dominance drops noticeably.
Transactional vs. inspirational: two different worlds
Take the study's example. When someone asks ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews "cheapest flight to Lisbon," the answer almost certainly includes Expedia, Kayak, or another major aggregator. Booking platforms appear in 78% of budget-related AI answers. Makes sense: they have structured data, real-time pricing, integrated APIs.
But when the question becomes "what experiences are worth it in Lisbon in autumn?" or "what's the real difference between a 4-star hotel and a boutique hotel?", things change. The AI stops looking for the biggest brand. It looks for the most relevant answer. Content with personal experience, unique perspective, human judgment.
And this isn't a small segment. 91% of queries fall into this category. Nine out of ten conversations with an AI aren't "buy now" but "help me understand."
From travel to every industry
The BrightEdge study analyzes travel, but the pattern applies everywhere. Think about your own industry. How many of the questions you get from clients are purely transactional? "How much does an SEO audit cost?" or "what's the price of a social media package?" Probably few.
Most sound like this: "Why doesn't my site show up in Google?", "Is TikTok worth it for B2B?", "How do I choose a marketing agency?" Orientation questions, evaluation questions, decision questions. Exactly the type where AI looks for substance, not just brand authority.
We've seen this directly with our clients. A local cosmetics producer won't beat L'Oréal in an AI answer about "best foundation." But they can clearly win at "how to choose a foundation for sensitive skin in Romania's climate" or "which natural ingredients actually work for combination skin." Specificity and practical experience are real advantages.
The same applies in services. A mid-size accounting firm won't outrank Deloitte in an AI answer about "tax consulting." But it can show up first for "what small business owners need to know about VAT changes in 2026" or "how to choose an accountant for a mixed-activity company." Specific, contextual, locally nuanced questions are exactly the terrain where smaller players have a natural edge. Not because Google favors anyone, but because AI looks for the best answer to a specific question, not the biggest brand in the category.
What AI cites when it doesn't cite brands
The data confirms something we've observed: AI visibility depends on who you ask and how you ask. For inspirational queries, AI pulls from diverse sources. Reddit, YouTube, niche blogs, sites with detailed reviews. User-generated content (UGC) performs surprisingly well.
This doesn't mean you should write like a forum post. It means AI values authenticity and demonstrable experience. If you've actually worked with a hospitality client and can concretely describe what worked, your answer has a better chance of being cited than a generic guide from a large corporate site.
The BrightEdge study also highlights a risk: UGC has historically been vulnerable to aggressive manipulation. The real differentiator isn't volume but verifiable expertise. Have you worked with real data? Do you have results? Can you back your claims with specific numbers? Then you have an advantage that a large brand producing generic content at scale can't easily replicate.
What smaller brands can do, specifically
This isn't about abandoning traditional SEO or ignoring that traditional search traffic is shifting. It's about adding a new layer to your strategy.
First: identify the orientation questions in your industry. Not transactional ones (big brands will always win those through authority and structured data). The comparative, evaluative, exploratory ones. Use Search Console, but also AI monitoring tools, to see which questions generate answers where the giants aren't the only ones showing up.
Second: create content with your own perspective. Not summaries of other articles. Not "comprehensive guides" of 5,000 words full of truisms. Content where practical experience shows: real case studies, data from your projects, opinions backed by results. AI checks whether a source holds up to follow-up questions, and superficial content falls apart at the first additional query.
Third: build coherence, not just content. AI Search visibility doesn't come from a single viral article. It comes from signal consistency: reviews, an updated Google Business Profile, coherent presence across platforms, direct answers to specific questions. AI builds a "profile" of your brand from multiple sources. Make sure they all tell the same story.
The agency perspective
When we talk to clients about AI Search, the first reaction is almost always defensive: "we can't compete with X." And they're right, if we look strictly at transactional queries. But we've learned that the best opportunities aren't where competition is fiercest, but where the competition isn't even looking.
91% of AI conversations are exploratory. That's enormous territory where real expertise, local perspective, and practical experience matter more than marketing budget. This isn't a promise that you'll beat Hilton. It's the observation that Hilton isn't even playing on your field.
Small brands don't need to dominate AI Search. They need to show up where it matters, with answers AI considers valuable. And that's a fight they can win.
The data isn't just encouraging. It's a strategic signal. When 91% of the playing field favors depth over scale, the brands that invest in genuine expertise today will be the ones AI recommends tomorrow. Not because they gamed the system, but because they had something real to say.
