“Snake oil” vs data science: what the academic experts told us at brunch

It was our busiest YS Does Brunch event to date. 30 people gathered over coffee and pastries to talk about AI visibility. The majority knew that there was a need to do something about it, but many were unsure what that should actually be.

What a difference a year makes

It was a stark difference to the first time we talked about GEO (generative engine optimisation) over brunch, back in July 2025. That was only just over a year ago, but at that time, it was a new topic. People were getting their heads around the idea of AI visibility and we’d just launched the first iteration of what is now Visbly. This time around, awareness and understanding was widespread – if anything, people were feeling overwhelmed with too much information, too many opinions and too many options. 

That’s why we invited the data scientists from the University of the West of England we’ve been working with to talk. For months, this team has been studying AI search visibility, full time and with all the academic rigour you’d expect. They’re the experts who have the objective truth to share (and aren’t trying to flog you anything while they do it). 

Insights from the experts

It was an enlightening presentation. Here are a few highlights from the research findings:

In the battle of owned vs earned, don’t overlook UGC. The UWE research found that user generated content was really powerful to get the AI search models to recommend you – think Trustpilot reviews and TikTok influencers. In fact, the research found that any brand mention from a first person perspective makes a positive impact on AI search results, because it shows up as an objective voice. 

Read it on Reddit? There has been so much debate about Reddit and its power over AI search. It has a lot of influence over AI models, but continued AI search spam in an attempt to game the system is creating a huge trust problem, which in turn has the potential to downgrade the site in the future. 

Visibility changes quickly. What’s true for a brand one week on one model might be entirely different the next. That’s why monitoring and reporting is so important. To go back to Reddit, the UWE researchers saw that in July this year, Reddit’s share of tracked ChatGPT search mentions was at 3.83%, which had plummeted to just 0.52% by the end of August. It’s important to monitor over a few months to identify trends, not just a one off. 

As YS co-founder Dominic said while wrapping up, all of a sudden there’s a lot of ‘snake oil’ out there when it comes to GEO with so many providers promising so much. This session dispelled many misconceptions and offered some valuable, independent advice. 

That’s the benefit of a view from the real experts. When it comes to AI search, it’s so easy to get stuck into your own echo chamber – the models you use are after all trained on your prompts, priorities and preferences which makes it hard to get an objective answer. With this in mind, a good dose of academic rigour is more important than ever. 

For more information or a free trial on Visbly, our academic backed, snake oil free AI visibility tool, contact team@yourssincerely.online