It usually appears on the phone between the traffic recap and the next quarter’s plan. The client asks if they appear when someone writes a question in ChatGPT. Many agencies still have the real answer.
That question is now everywhere.
In AgencyAnalytics’ 2026 Marketing Agency Benchmarks Report, based on responses from 494 agency professionals, 66% said helping clients appear in AI-driven searches is what clients are asking for from the service. It’s ranked ahead of performance-based paid ads and short-form video, both of which have been around for years.
AI search went from a curiosity to a top client request in one year. The need is real and rising fast. The following is difficult.
Look for a pass rating
Agencies feel the change, but feeling and measuring it is different. In the report, 64% named Google’s AI Overview as their top industry concern.
At the same time, 48% say they can’t reliably track brand discovery with AI tools, and 47% can’t identify conversions across multiple journeys through AI-assisted research.
Quality tracking is built for blue links. It cannot indicate whether the AI-generated response names the client, how it describes them, or what sources have shaped the response.
So when a client asks how they’re doing on ChatGPT, most agencies have to admit they can’t tell. That’s a difficult answer to give a paying person to know.
What institutions can really measure up now
AI search visibility is no longer a black box. Four things are traceable today, and together they provide the real answer:
- Visibility: Whether the client appears if the information is related to his business.
- Position: How bright they seem.
- Feelings: How AI describes itself (good, neutral, or a problem to be flagged).
- Quotes: Which URLs the model relies on to build its response, revealing whose content is shaping the response.
Track those four over time across engines like ChatGPT and Gemini, and “Are we showing up?” it becomes a chart that the agency can put in front of the client.
Where that tracking lives is as important as measuring. AgencyAnalytics builds AI Tracker on the same platform over 7,000 agencies already use for reporting, so AI search visibility sits alongside the traffic, leads, and revenue they’re already tracking.
Unlike a stand-alone tool, AI Tracker tells one connected story: where a client appears in an AI search and what they do in business. It uses a pool of credits that is shared across all agency clients, without counting per seat as clients are added.
The unlocking tool can report the metric. Connecting the visibility of AI to marketing results explains what it means.
Finding data where work is done
There is a second part of the equation: where agencies actually work.
Another day of agency is now taking place within AI tools. The account manager reviews the client’s performance in Claude or ChatGPT, then stops, switches tabs, pulls the number out of the dashboard, and returns it to the chat.
AgencyAnalytics MCP fills that gap. It connects live client data to the AI tools agencies already use, so they can ask about performance without leaving the chat.
Every query is addressed to a specific client, and existing permissions persist, so agencies only see the accounts they are authorized to access. AI Tracker data reaches the team when it’s already working instead of sitting on a dashboard that someone has to remember to open.
Together, AI Tracker and MCP simplify the workflow: measure how clients appear in AI searches, and bring that data to tools where analysis and writing happen.
Why is this a storage problem, not just an SEO one?
It’s tempting to lump search AI under SEO and move on. That lowers the stakes.
The top question clients ask, cited by 55% of agencies, is whether sales are linked to real profits.
That question reflects a broader shift in what clients now expect.
“Agencies are being asked to do a different job than last year,” said AgencyAnalytics CEO Joe Kindness. “Clients want to know if they’re coming from ChatGPT, they want answers when they ask, and they expect proof of revenue. We work with 7,000 affiliates serving 150,000 customers, so we see these shifts early. AI Tracker puts that visibility in our customers’ hands.”
An agency that can show where the client is coming from AI results, alongside visibility-backed revenue, has a very different conversation. One seems to be ready for where the market is going. One remains unanswered to a question the client already cares about.
Change is already here. Agencies can measure and report so they will answer ChatGPT’s query with data. The full picture of what’s changing, and how agencies are responding, is in the July issue of AgencyAnalytics with its new AI features.
