The hidden ‘bland tax’ that could erase your brand from AI search

AI isn’t just changing search — it’s deciding which brands get ignored.

At Adobe Summit today, Andrew Warden, CMO of Semrush, argued that visibility has fundamentally changed — and that brands now risk being systematically filtered out by AI systems.

• “The idea of standing out is no longer optional. There’s a real risk of sameness,” Warden said.

Because AI systems decide what to surface and what to ignore, brands now must compete for visibility in answers.

AI is changing how discovery works

You can already see the shift in the data, as 60% of Google searches now end without a click to a website.

Users are still searching, but they’re not always visiting websites. They get answers directly from AI systems like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others.

AI systems are becoming what Warden described as the “new gatekeepers.”

This is part of a broader shift toward the agentic era — where AI systems act as intermediaries, guiding users through the entire journey from question to decision in a single interface.

At the same time, user behavior is changing. People are spending more time in conversational environments, asking follow-up questions, refining queries, and exploring options without leaving the interface.

The result is fewer clicks, but often higher-intent users.

According to Warden, “consumers who are using LLMs convert at least 4x higher than those using search alone.”

SEO is the foundation

Despite ongoing claims that AI will replace search, Warden pushed back.

• “I’m here to tell you today… that [SEO is] not dead,” he said.

Instead, SEO has become more foundational. It’s no longer just about ranking pages — it’s about making sure your brand exists in the data layer that AI systems rely on.

• “SEO isn’t just for humans anymore. This is a training manual for AI right now,” Warden said.

That includes the fundamentals:

• Crawlability
• Indexability
• Structured data
• Authority signals

Without them, your brand won’t show up at all.

• “If you do not have the core SEO principles in place… LLMs will actually wipe you out of the conversation.”

Research supports this: 94% of Google AI Overviews cite at least one top organic result, reinforcing that traditional search signals still underpin AI outputs.

The rise of the ‘bland tax’

One of the most striking ideas from the session was what Warden called the “bland tax.”

• “AI is conditioning itself right now to ignore blandness.”

That means content that feels generic or repetitive disappears.

• “If you are generic, you are average. And if you are average or bland… [you are] invisible.”

AI systems don’t reward sameness. Instead of highlighting your brand, they summarize similar content into a single answer — often stripping away attribution entirely.

• “This is an invisible penalty that you pay,” Warden said.

The consequences show up in three ways:

• Your brand identity gets erased in AI-generated summaries
• Your content gets filtered out as low-value
• Your work becomes training data for AI without visibility

• “You also become a free training ground for LLMs,” he said.

What visibility depends on

Warden reframed brand visibility as the combination of:

• Discoverability: Can LLMs find you?
• Authority: Do they trust you enough to include you?

• “You absolutely need both,” Warden said.

SEO ensures discoverability. Authority determines whether you show up in AI-generated answers.

Without authority, you risk becoming “a commodity that isn’t worth being mentioned.”

How to win: three key signals

Warden outlined three areas that determine whether a brand shows up or gets filtered out.

1. Entity authority

AI systems map entities and relationships.

• “AI has to recognize your brand as an authority on a topic,” Warden said.

One key signal is brand demand.

• “If people aren’t looking for you, then neither is AI,” Warden said.

Strong brands reinforce their authority across multiple surfaces — owned content, media coverage, and community conversations — making it clear what they stand for.

2. Information density and originality

AI systems prioritize citing content that adds something new. So don’t just publish content. Contribute something meaningful.

• “They’re prioritizing new facts,” Warden said.

That includes:

• Proprietary data
• Original research
• Unique perspectives
• Expert insights

According to Warden, original insights can boost visibility by 30 to 40%.

3. Signal alignment

AI evaluates not just what you say — but what others say about you.

That includes:

• Reviews
• Reddit and YouTube discussions
• Media coverage
• Customer conversations

• “If there are conflicting signals… AI flags you with unreliable,” Warden said.

Consistency across all of these creates what he called a “consensus signal” — a unified narrative that AI systems can trust.

Why most organizations aren’t ready

One of the biggest challenges is organizational.

• “Visibility isn’t… a channel problem… it’s an organizational problem.”

Today, responsibility is fragmented:

• SEO teams focus on rankings.
• PR and brand teams manage messaging.
• Growth teams run experiments.

But no one owns visibility across AI systems.

This leads to inconsistent signals and missed opportunities.

To compete, companies need alignment across teams, with a shared strategy for how the brand shows up everywhere LLMs are pulling data from.

The measurement problem

Meanwhile, traditional performance metrics are breaking down.

Warden described a pattern many marketers are seeing:

• Rankings remain stable.
• Traffic declines.
• Leads increase — but attribution is unclear.

Warden said:

• “Demand is still there. But… traffic is no longer the proxy for that.”
• “Your content is being used, but not in the way that sends people back to you.”

This creates a growing gap between impact and measurement.

From rankings to relevance

The nature of competition has changed.

• “You’re no longer competing for a position. You’re actually competing to be in a synthesized answer,” Warden said

Authority is also harder to control than it used to be. It now depends heavily on external validation — what others say, not just what you publish.

• “Algorithms are no longer your ally… they are the ultimate arbiter of what is meaningful.”

That is one of the biggest changes in search since Google itself.

The new rules of brand visibility

AI hasn’t changed what makes a brand strong, but it has changed how strength is measured and rewarded.

The brands that win will:

• Build real authority in a focused niche.
• Publish original, high-value content.
• Align messaging across every platform and channel.
• Earn consistent validation from third parties.

In this new environment, visibility must be earned across an ecosystem.

Or as Warden put it:

• “Make it impossible for [LLMs] to ignore you.”

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