2026 isn’t just another step forward: it’s a hard reset. Search is no longer a single destination but an ecosystem woven through AI assistants, social platforms, maps, video, and retail media. Consumers expect frictionless experiences, human authenticity, and instant answers. And the brands that thrive will be the ones willing to reinvent themselves—not slowly, but continuously.
This report distils the noise into 26 practical, performance-ready moves you can activate today. Drawn from the deep expertise of DAC’s specialists, these insights are designed to help you navigate uncertainty, unlock growth, and lead with confidence in a radically new marketing landscape.
THEME 1: AI-native marketing systems
Eight ways to build marketing programmes designed for AI-first environments.
1. Prepare your ads for AI-powered surfaces
Google has confirmed that ads now appear directly inside AI Overviews, creating a highly competitive new paid surface.
AI Overviews, chat-based results, and assistant-led shopping journeys are becoming core discovery surfaces. Craft assets that work inside these AI environments. Think concise value propositions, structured data, comparison snippets, and feed-rich attributes. Brands ready for these formats will capture high-intent queries others can’t reach.
2. Build conversational-ready creative for chat-based ad units
Conversational ad formats are being rolled out across Google, Meta, Amazon, and retail media platforms.
Conversational ads allow users to ask follow-up questions within the ad itself. Prepare bite-size insights, product attributes, pricing details, and competitive differentiators that can feed an interactive dialogue. Your creative must anticipate the next logical question a user might ask.
3. Restructure campaigns for signal quality, not granularity
Google and Meta recommend 50+ conversions per week at the campaign/ad set level for stable machine learning.
AI thrives on volume and clarity. Consolidate campaigns to deliver more conversion signals, use fewer but richer audience buckets, and allow platforms to learn faster. Excessive segmentation slows algorithms and caps performance.
4. Strengthen broad match with smarter guardrails
Advertisers using broad match with smart bidding see 25% more conversions at a similar CPA.
Broad match is now deeply AI-driven and highly effective—when controlled. Combine broad match with smart bidding and strong first-party signals to unlock incremental demand. Use negative lists to maintain relevance and monitor search term reports to identify new profitable themes.
5. Build video as a core search input, not just a media format
58% of Gen Z’s video consumption happens on social platforms.
Consumers—especially Gen Z—use video as a discovery engine. Treat video as a search strategy: create content that answers questions, explains products, demonstrates features, and builds brand recognition across YouTube, TikTok, and social.
6. Ensure your website is fully crawlable by LLMs
Content hidden behind JavaScript is often invisible to LLM crawlers, which means it won’t be referenced in AI-generated answers.
While search engines can render JavaScript-heavy content, LLMs cannot. If key content loads client-side, AI engines may never see it. Prioritise server-side rendering, clean HTML structures, and accessible internal links.
7. Update your SEO KPIs for an AI-driven customer journey
Organic traffic will continue to decline as LLMs surface your content without users clicking through, making new KPIs essential.
Traffic is no longer the primary indicator of organic success. With AI search increasingly answering user queries directly, measure value instead: time spent on site, conversions, micro-actions, visibility (impressions), and assisted engagement.
8. Embrace AI-powered measurement and modeled conversion systems
Up to 70% of conversions in Google Ads are now modeled rather than directly observed due to privacy and signal loss.
In AI-native marketing systems, measurement becomes a core performance engine: it provides the signals algorithms need to continuously optimise. Modeled conversions, enriched first-party signals, and data-driven attribution allow platforms to understand intent, fill in measurement gaps, and automatically adjust bids, audiences, and creative. Here, the goal is not just to measure outcomes after the fact, but to feed the AI with the right data so it can learn faster, predict more accurately, and activate more effectively.
THEME 2: Local and trust signals
Seven ways to win where customers search, decide, and convert.
9. Triple your investment in reviews as your #1 ranking signal
88% of consumers would use a business that responds to reviews, versus only 47% for businesses that don’t.
Reviews drive rankings, customer trust, and conversions. Prioritise proactive review generation, fast replies (within 24 hours), and workflows that resolve issues at the location level. High review velocity and sentiment consistency improve visibility across search and AI.
10. Elevate digital PR to build local authority and brand trust
81% of consumers must trust a brand before considering a purchase.
Local authority no longer comes from listings alone. Earn citations, local press, backlinks, and community partnerships to strengthen credibility. Tie PR efforts to openings, events, and seasonal opportunities to build scalable, repeatable visibility.
11. Treat Apple Business Connect (ABC) as a primary local channel
With over 1.56 billion active iPhones globally, Apple Maps is impossible to ignore.
Apple Maps is now a major discovery engine, amplified by Apple Intelligence. Optimise every ABC profile: complete data, accurate categories, local actions, offers, and fresh content updates.
12. Turn local pages into high-intent conversion engines
76% of local searches lead to a store visit within 24 hours; 78% lead to an offline purchase.
Local pages should function as dynamic conversion hubs, not static landing pages. Add structured data, FAQs, offers, booking/ordering modules, real-time information, and rich media.
13. Build executive-ready location performance dashboards
Brands using location-level insights see measurable improvements in core KPIs.
Transform location data into business decisions. Report on visibility shifts, ranking movements, sentiment trends, and conversion outcomes, packaged in a narrative that leaders can act on.
14. Operationalise store-level feedback loops that drive action
When consumers see brands respond to feedback, loyalty increases significantly.
Monthly or quarterly performance sessions with store teams improve ranking, satisfaction, and accuracy. Turn insights into action plans, then close the loop so locations understand the “why.”
15. Monitor brand reputation across external sources
Brand sentiment now influences whether your brand is cited in AI-generated recommendations.
AI engines evaluate reputation across the entire digital ecosystem: reviews, UGC, Reddit, Quora, social media, industry publications, and comparison sites. Regularly assess how your brand is portrayed and address weaknesses head-on.
THEME 3: The creative renaissance
Five ways to build creative that wins attention and performance in 2026.
16. Prioritise mobile-first design for modern audiences
40% of users go to a competitor after a bad mobile experience.
Mobile now drives most traffic. Prioritise fast-loading pages, thumb-friendly navigation, responsive layouts, and streamlined content. Poor mobile experiences cost business.
17. Build a cohesive cross-channel design system
Consistency boosts brand recognition by up to 80%.
Eliminate friction by unifying your brand’s visual language across web, ads, social, email, and landing pages. Consistent cues increase trust, retention, and brand recall.
18. Invest in video and interactive content that drives engagement
Social videos generate 1,200% more shares than text and image posts combined.
Dynamic formats like short videos, animations, quizzes, and interactive demos capture attention and increase dwell time across social and web.
19. Use storytelling and UGC to deliver authentic brand Moments
84% of consumers trust brands more when they use UGC.
Amid AI-generated content overload, authenticity wins. Show real people, real stories, behind-the-scenes content, and customer moments that build trust.
20. Replace guesswork with data-driven creative testing
Every £1 invested in UX returns ~£100 in value.
Use heatmaps, analytics, and A/B testing to optimise layouts, CTAs, imagery, and messaging. Small UX improvements drive exponential gains.
THEME 4: New multi-platform search landscape
Four ways to win across AI search, social search, and traditional SERP.
21. Publish high-quality content that feeds both SERP and LLMs
AI search referrals have grown 527% in five months.
LLMs are hungry for structured, clear, authoritative content. Expand product/service pages, FAQs, persona-specific pain points, comparison content, and expert insights.
22. Integrate local insights into your broader SEO and media strategy
89% of companies with strong cross-channel alignment retain customers versus 33% without it.
Use review themes, local search demand, and top-converting locations to guide content, messaging, creative, and media activation. Cross-pollination increases efficiency.
23. Expand your schema markup to improve AI search visibility
Schema continues to expand with new fields that improve AI comprehension.
Schema makes your site easier for AI to understand. Add new fields, validate accuracy, and ensure markup reflects actual on-page content.
24. Build content ecosystems aligned to multi-platform search paths
70% of consumers use three or more platforms during discovery.
Search is now fragmented across Google, Maps, TikTok, AI engines, YouTube, and retail platforms. Build content tailored to each path to ensure brand presence throughout the customer journey.
THEME 5: The measurement reset
Two ways to build measurement systems that reflect how consumers buy today.
25. Move beyond last-click: Adopt incrementality to measure true contribution
Incrementality tests reveal an average of 15–30% over-attribution in last-click models.
Incrementality isolates what truly creates value by distinguishing conversions that would have happened anyway from those genuinely driven by your marketing efforts. Through geo-split tests, control groups, experiments, and marketing mix modeling, brands can quantify the real lift generated by each channel, campaign, or tactic. This approach breaks the illusion of last-click attribution and leads to more informed decisions: more precise budget allocation, a more efficient media mix, and a clearer view of overall performance.
26. Leverage first-party data to power AI-oriented data design
Differentiation in an AI world starts with differentiated data.
AI models perform best when fed structured, accurate, and richly described first-party data. Map your data assets, clean your taxonomy, and unify customer identifiers to create AI-ready inputs.
In conclusion, 2026 rewards the bold.
The brands that win will move quickly, integrate channels, embrace AI-native systems, and build trust at every touchpoint. These 26 actions offer a roadmap for accelerating performance, improving efficiency, and delivering meaningful results—today and into the future. Ready to activate your 2026 plan? Let’s connect and explore how these insights can support your marketing priorities for the year ahead.
