Why AI's Understanding of Your Brand Changes Everything

tl;dr: We've discovered that AI systems often misunderstand or misrepresent brand positioning in ways that directly impact digital performance. Using our Brand Check LLM, we can now measure and close these perception gaps. Here's what actually works.

The Strategic Insight

Looking at Twitch through our Brand Check LLM revealed a pattern that changes everything. While our model, trained on official positioning, emphasizes Twitch's role as an innovation driver, public AI models tell a completely different story - one focused heavily on trust and safety concerns.

This gap isn't just theoretical. Recent data shows ChatGPT referral traffic increasing by over 2,490% for some brands¹ , with AI systems becoming major traffic drivers. How these systems understand your brand directly impacts your digital performance.

The New Rules of Brand Discovery

The rise of AI-driven search has fundamentally changed how brands are discovered and understood. We're seeing three major shifts that are reshaping brand visibility:

1. The End of Traditional Search Dominance

The data is clear: AI is rapidly becoming a primary discovery channel. Consider these patterns:

• ChatGPT referral traffic has increased 2490% in just one month for some brands

• Google's AI Overview now appears above traditional search results for 1 in 4 queries

• Brands with strong traditional SEO are seeing up to 30% traffic variations based on AI perception

HubSpot's experience serves as a warning: Their traffic dropped significantly after Google's "Information Gain" update, despite years of SEO dominance.

The reason? Their reliance on gated content and templated approaches that AI systems viewed as low-value.

But here's what most brands are missing: AI systems aren't just processing your content differently – they're actively developing and sharing opinions about your brand trustworthiness. Our analysis revealed a critical pattern that's determining winners and losers in this new landscape.