French companies are allocating an increasing share of their budget to their online presence, but the landscape is changing faster than habits. The gradual rollout of Google AI Overview in France, scheduled before September 23, 2026, is altering the rules of the game.
International studies measure an average drop in the click-through rate of 34.5% on position 1 when an AI-generated summary appears at the top of the results. For certain queries, the drop reaches 79%. The reflex of “being first on Google” is no longer enough to guarantee a company’s visibility.
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Generative Engine Optimization: the new discipline redefining SEO
Classic SEO is based on a simple principle: to rank as high as possible in search results. Google’s AI summaries disrupt this logic.
More than 50% of the sources cited in the AI Overviews come from sites ranked between 11th and 50th place, not from the top 3. A well-placed site on the first page can therefore become invisible if an AI snippet captures attention, while a second-page site may be cited in the summary.
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This shift is giving rise to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), an approach aimed at making content selectable by language models. The goal is no longer just to please the ranking algorithm but to produce information that is sufficiently structured, sourced, and citable for an AI engine to incorporate it into its responses.
Initial recommendations converge on one lever: Earned Media. Press releases picked up by recognized media, certified customer reviews, mentions in industry publications or specialized forums enhance the credibility perceived by LLMs. A company looking to discover Opus Media’s services will find this type of strategic support among the offerings provided by professional digital agencies.
Content strategy and digital visibility: what volume cannot compensate for
Publishing a lot guarantees nothing. AI engines favor content that precisely answers a question, with verifiable data and a clear structure. A poorly sourced blog post, even if well-ranked, is unlikely to be selected as a reference by an automated summary.
Field feedback varies on this point: some companies find that long and comprehensive content performs better in AI Overviews, while others achieve results with short and highly targeted formats. The available data does not allow for a definitive conclusion.
Three criteria observed in content selected by AIs
- A direct answer to the query in the first lines of the text, without diluted introduction or hook
- Factual data attributed to an identifiable source (named study, public body, industry report), rather than generic claims
- Clean semantic markup (hierarchical titles, structured lists, tables) that facilitates automated information extraction
The challenge for companies is to shift from a volume logic to a logic of structured and verifiable content. A professional digital service brings value here: auditing the existing editorial line, identifying high-potential GEO queries, and reformatting content to make it usable by response engines.
Social media and digital marketing: the question of real acquisition cost
Social media remains a major visibility channel, but the cost to reach a qualified audience is increasing. The algorithms of Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn have been reducing the organic reach of professional posts for several years. To maintain a comparable level of exposure, companies must invest more in paid advertising.
On the other hand, some platforms still offer windows of opportunity. Short formats on TikTok or Instagram Reels allow local businesses to gain disproportionate visibility relative to their budget, provided they produce content suited to the format and usage of each network.
Professional support allows for measuring the real return on investment of each channel, rather than scattering efforts. The question is not to be present everywhere, but to concentrate resources where the customer acquisition cost remains sustainable.
What AI changes in managing social campaigns
Artificial intelligence tools integrated into advertising platforms (Meta Advantage+, Google Performance Max) automate part of the targeting and optimization of campaigns. Companies that use professional digital services benefit from a critical perspective on these automations: advertising AI optimizes spending, not strategy. The choice of messages, priority audiences, and conversion objectives remains a human decision.
Regulatory compliance and digital services: the framework imposed by the AI Act
The gradual implementation of the European AI Act in 2025-2026 introduces obligations for companies using AI systems in their digital marketing. Chatbots, personalized recommendation tools, and customer scoring systems are affected to varying degrees.
For a company that entrusts its digital strategy to a provider, the question of regulatory compliance becomes a selection criterion. A professional provider must be able to document the AI tools it uses, explain how they work, and ensure their compliance with the European framework.
- Verify that the provider explicitly identifies AI-generated or assisted content, in accordance with transparency obligations
- Ensure that customer data used for advertising targeting complies with GDPR and the new constraints of the AI Act
- Request written documentation on the automated tools deployed in campaigns
This regulatory framework, far from being a hindrance, constitutes a competitive advantage for companies that comply early. Consumers are increasingly paying attention to brands’ transparency regarding the use of AI.
A company’s digital visibility depends less and less on good isolated SEO positioning and more on a coherent ecosystem: structured content for AI engines, calibrated social presence, and documented regulatory compliance. Providers capable of articulating these three dimensions are those who deliver measurable value.