University of Kwazulu-Natal

An Analysis Of 4 Top Ai Search Engines What Brands Must Know For 2025

Bonisiwe Shabane
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an analysis of 4 top ai search engines what brands must know for 2025

The promise of "AI Search" has not produced a single winner. Instead, the market is a fragmented landscape of distinct platforms, each with a different approach. To understand the challenges facing brands, we performed an in-depth analysis of the four dominant players: Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Bing AI. This review reveals precisely how they differ and why those differences matter. Perplexity is designed to be an "answer engine" that excels at summarizing sources and researching complex topics. It feels less like a classic search engine and more like an interactive encyclopedia.

Google is layering AI features on top of its existing search infrastructure. AI Overviews provide direct answers for some queries, but the core experience remains rooted in traditional search. ChatGPT's strength lies in its deep conversational ability. It is exceptional at handling very specific, long-tail informational queries that require context and nuance. Bing has aggressively integrated AI features into its search results, including AI-generated snippets and dynamic "table of contents" modules for complex topics. Blog > I Tried the 9 Best AI Search Engines: Here’s What Works

Google has dominated the search engine market for decades. But the rapid adoption of generative AI has quickly presented a threat to Google and traditional search engines. You don't need to rely on Google as your only search engine now. AI-powered search engines are becoming more popular by providing users with more intuitive, conversational, and context-aware ways to access information. A recent Semrush study suggests that AI search visitors could exceed traditional search visitors by 2028. Despite the growing popularity of AI, an Exploding Topics study found that 42.1% of people had experienced misleading content in AI Overviews.

These findings led me to learn more about the AI search engine space to determine which platform is the best. ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini (among others) have successfully made AI chatbots mainstream and serve as viable alternatives to standard web search engines. In turn, the standard search engines from those companies (along with alternative ones) have adopted some AI elements. Bing, for example, now offers the Copilot Search feature, which shows the AI's reasoning process. Meanwhile, Google's AI Mode and AI Overviews, respectively, provide chatbot-like functionality and a summary of findings at the top of a results page. AI can greatly improve the web search experience.

With standard web search, you often need to pore over multiple web pages to find the kernel of knowledge you're after. With AI search, you often need only enter a single text prompt. Furthermore, if an initial answer isn’t quite what you're looking for, you can steer the bot in the right direction with follow-up prompts. You don’t have to keep rephrasing the same query the way you do with standard search engines or with legacy AI voice assistants, such as Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri. But we aren't focusing on Copilot in Bing or Google's various AI search features here. Instead, we are looking at search engines that run entirely on generative AI.

Generative AI and chatbots typically rely on large language models (LLMs) that train on an information set with a specific cutoff date. The search engines we highlight here also use LLMs to understand the text you enter, but rather than basing their results on a fixed knowledge base, they scan the live web for up-to-date information... The better ones even show you their sources so you can double-check them. Data Collected: Monitored brand mention and citation patterns across four major AI platforms using BrightEdge AI Catalyst to analyze: Key Finding: Each AI engine has a distinct "personality" that determines brand visibility. ChatGPT mentions brands in 99.3% of eCommerce responses while Google AI Overview includes them in just 6.2%.

These aren't random variations—they're fundamental design differences that shape how customers discover products. The "Other" Category: 48-77% of citations come from specialized sites beyond major platforms—industry publications, niche experts, and topic-specific resources. This long tail represents significant opportunity for specialized content creators. Keywords That Trigger Maximum Brand Mentions While our analysis focused on eCommerce, the behavioral patterns persist across industries: Read about the biggest shifts from March to August 2025 — and what marketing teams need to do now to stay visible in the AI search landscape.

TL;DR: AI search is evolving fast. From agentic tools to multimodal inputs and zero-click answers, discovery looks different than it did six months ago. To stay visible, brands must structure data for action, optimize for new inputs like voice and video, and maintain consistency across every channel AI might pull from. In the past six months, AI search has accelerated from emerging technology to a core channel for discovery and action. These updates matter for marketing professionals because visibility is no longer just about rankings — it's about being found, trusted, and engaged with across AI-driven experiences. Read on for a recap of the four insights to act on today.

Google AI Mode can now book restaurant tables, and soon will handle concert ticket bookings, too. OpenAI's ChatGPT is testing built‑in checkout, enabling payments directly within the chat interface. These shifts mean that AI isn't just delivering answers anymore: it's acting on behalf of users. Each month we evaluate and recognize award-winning designs in these industries. I ran a test of five leading AI search platforms for professional purposes and here’s how they performed, what they’re best at, and when they’re actually worth using. Although far from perfect, AI-powered search tools have plenty of value to offer.

They save time, often deliver better answers, and they’re becoming a go-to for finding things online. Here’s what I found when I put five of these tools to the test. Related Articles:1. Gemini vs. ChatGPT 2. How To Use AI in Business 3.

Top 15 ChatGPT Competitors Revealed4. 5 Types of Chatbots for Your Business To take the AI-optimization of your business to the next level, it pays to get the right expertise to support your journey. In 1998, Google changed the way we search.In 2025, AI search engines are doing it again. From Perplexity’s explosive rise to Google’s AI Mode rollout, search is shifting from blue links to real-time answers, and users are responding fast. According to Break the Web, 58.5% of U.S.

Google searches now end in zero clicks, as AI-generated responses satisfy intent instantly. And this isn’t a passing trend. The AI search engine market, valued at $43.6 billion in 2024, is projected to capture 62.2% of total search volume by 2030, with revenues nearing $379 billion. This report dives deep into the AI search engine landscape: market shifts, platform comparisons, and exclusive insights from our original user behavior survey. We’ve also ranked the top tools using 8 scoring factors, including accuracy, bias, and citation transparency. 🔍 Jump to the Rankings: Which AI Search Engine Is Winning in 2025?

→ Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity AI, Claude, SearchGPT, Bing or Grok don’t just crawl and index content—they interpret, summarise, and repackage it uniquely. Some prioritise fast, fact-based answers. Others deliver in-depth, conversational insights or creative responses. To rank in AI-generated results, your content strategy must align with how each engine processes and presents information. This guide breaks down the top generative AI tools of 2025: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, and Grok, with a focus on their web access capabilities, real-time information handling, and how that impacts...

Unlike traditional search engines that list links, AI search engines like Grok or Perplexity summarize, interpret, and personalize answers, often pulling from websites, blogs, or X posts. Some, like ChatGPT, rely on pre-trained data with optional web access, while others, like Perplexity, are built for real-time searches. This matters for two big reasons: Content Creators: To rank in AI answers (via GEO), you need to know which models access the web and how they pick sources.Businesses: For e-commerce, being cited by... “AIO keywords trigger 849% more Featured Snippets and 258% more Discussions compared to non-AIO queries.” Louise Linehan, Ahrefs. Each AI model has unique strengths, web access methods, and content preferences. AI Search Engines Comparison Table (2025) AI comparison table showing six AI models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, Grok) .

Each model lists whether it has real-time web access, how it accesses the web (e.g., built-in browser, web search, Google Search integration), the type of data it uses (static, real-time, hybrid), and its best... Here’s a breakdown to help you tailor your GEO strategy for maximum visibility, especially for e-commerce. There's not a lot of reliable data on usage, and it does vary from audience to audience. I like using SparkToro for analyzing whether my clients' are actively shifting away from Google and finding a new home on LLM-based search platforms. I find the FirstPageSage's reports to be super interesting so here's the latest one. An AI search engine uses artificial intelligence to understand queries, rank results, and generate answers based on relevance and context.

It goes beyond keyword matching by analyzing intent, semantics, and user behavior to deliver more accurate and personalized results than traditional search engines. The AI search engine market in 2025 has become increasingly competitive, with established tech giants and innovative startups vying for dominance. According to FirstPageSage's market share report from April 2025, the landscape shows significant concentration among a few major players but with emerging competitors gaining ground. ChatGPT remains the dominant player in the AI search market, but its growth has slowed as competitors have emerged with compelling alternatives. The FirstPageSage report indicates that while ChatGPT maintains its leadership position, it "has seen a decline in market share this year at the hands of its many smaller competitors," particularly specialty AI tools like... AI search engines are rewriting discovery.

Here’s what ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini mean for brands in 2025. Google used to be the front door to the internet. You typed in a keyword, it tossed back ten blue links, and you did the digging. That is changing fast. AI search engines do not hand you a list; they hand you an answer. Instead of keywords, you ask a question in plain English.

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