Merlin Entertainments, the attractions business behind some of the UK's best-known visitor destinations, has overhauled its search strategy in response to the arrival of AI Overviews.

The shift marks a significant change for a company that has spent the better part of three decades promoting its attractions across the UK and worldwide in the way most brands did. The advent of AI-generated search results has forced a rethink of how Merlin approaches its marketing communications.

The results of that rethink are measurable. Merlin has grown its visibility within Google's AI Overviews at six times the benchmark rate, according to the company.

The move reflects a broader industry pivot toward generative engine optimisation (GEO) — the practice of structuring content and marketing communications so that brands surface in AI-generated answers rather than traditional blue-link search results.

For a business whose discovery funnel has historically depended on search, the transition is not a niche technical project. As the company put it, "all teams need to think about this" — a signal that Merlin treats GEO as an organisation-wide discipline rather than a specialist function siloed within search or SEO teams.

The case is a concrete example of how AI Overviews are reshaping brand visibility in search. For marketing leaders at consumer-facing brands, the implication is direct: strategies built on conventional SEO performance may no longer guarantee visibility when the answer layer, not the link list, becomes the primary surface users see.

Merlin's experience suggests the brands that move early — reworking content structures, cross-functional ownership and measurement approaches — can capture visibility gains well above market benchmarks.

Source: Marketing Week (https://www.marketingweek.com/merlin-entertainments-approaching-geo/)