What we learnt at BrightonSEO 2026: Four Lessons for Brands in the Age of AI Search

In October, it was time for the annual Dock marketing team trip down to BrightonSEO, the UK's biggest search marketing conference. Over two days, we sat in on over 20 talks, covering everything from AI search and digital PR, to log files and video.

AI was, unsurprisingly, the topic in almost every room. But the most useful lessons weren't about chasing the latest tool. They were about getting the fundamentals right in a world where people increasingly ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI Overviews everything, before they ever visit a website.

After a team debrief, here's four things we brought back to Liverpool:

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AI visibility is mostly earned away from your own website

When an AI tool recommends a product, it's pulling from the sources it trusts: buying guides, 'best of' lists, reviews, expert commentary and video.

Jane Hunt of JBH shared research showing that 58% of AI citations come from commercial content like buying guides and product roundups, and only around 5% from dated news articles.

Jessica Hulbert of Hendy Group made a similar point from a PR angle: pair genuinely useful data with a named expert, and get it in front of the publications AI already reads.

What it means for you: Your website still matters. But being mentioned in the right places online matters just as much. If your products aren't being talked about in the right places that both your customers (and AI tools) rely on, that's a gap worth closing.

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Start from your customers' questions, not keywords

Several speakers argued that keyword lists are no longer the best starting point. People now ask full questions, often in a conversation with an AI tool, and they move through stages: understanding a problem, comparing options, then checking they're making the right choice.

Jane Hunt builds her clients' PR around a fixed set of real customer questions, where as Jurre Ham, Dentsu plans video content around how people actually search across Google, YouTube, TikTok and AI tools, rather than starting with a channel.

What it means for you: Go back to basics and list the questions your customers ask before they buy, at every stage. That list is a better brief for content, PR and video, than a spreadsheet of keywords.

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Measure honestly and start collecting data now

There was a refreshing amount of honesty about measurement. Jane Hunt was clear about what AI visibility reporting can prove (mentions, citations, recommendations) and what it can't (that one article directly caused a sale).

Charles Meaden showed how much data businesses are losing. Google Search Console only keeps 16 months of data and hides many search terms. An export to Google BigQuery, which takes about 30 minutes to set up, keeps everything from the day you switch it on, for a few pounds a month.

What it means for you: Set a baseline before you start any new activity, and make sure you're keeping your data. You can't measure progress against numbers you no longer have.

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The technical basics still decide whether you're found

For all the talk of AI, plenty of sessions came back to the basics.

Oliver Yee showed how ecommerce sites often quietly create thousands of unnecessary URLs through filters, old products and tracking links, wasting Google's time. Nikki Goodman shared an example where important product details only appeared after JavaScript loaded, which many AI tools can't read.

What it means for you: If search engines and AI tools can't easily read your site, nothing else works as well as it should. A healthy, well-structured site is still the foundation.

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What's next

Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing more detail on the talks we found most useful, including how to check whether your brand shows up in AI answers, the free Search Console setting most businesses haven't switched on, and why your website might be wasting Google's time.

If you'd like to talk about what any of this means for your site, get in touch with the Dock team here.