Google Overtakes OpenAI—But Can Your Brand Keep Up?

Google Gemini just crossed 750 million monthly active users.

Let that sink in for a second. That's up from basically nothing in early 2024 to nearly matching ChatGPT's 810 million—in under two years.

Every tech publication is covering this like it's a sports rivalry. Team OpenAI vs. Team Google. Who's winning? Who's losing? Will Gemini overtake ChatGPT by Q3?

I get it. Horse races are fun to watch.

But here's the question nobody's asking—the one that actually affects your revenue: Do brands show up differently in Gemini versus ChatGPT?

I ran the tests. The answer is yes. And if you're optimizing for one AI engine while ignoring the other, you're leaving visibility on the table.

Let me show you what I found.

The Numbers Everyone's Missing

First, some context on why this matters now.

Gemini 3 launched in Q4 2025 and drove over 100 million new users to Google's AI tools. That's not gradual adoption—that's a tidal wave.

Sundar Pichai wasn't shy about it on the earnings call: they're seeing "significantly higher engagement per user since the Gemini 3 launch." People aren't just signing up. They're using it. Daily.

Reuters called it a move "from laggard to leader"—and they're not wrong. Google went from playing catch-up to genuine competition in about 18 months.

So now we've got two massive AI engines with overlapping but different user bases:

• ChatGPT: ~810 million MAUs, still the leader, strong with knowledge workers and developers
• Gemini: 750 million MAUs, growing faster, deeply integrated into Google's ecosystem

That's 1.5 billion monthly touchpoints where people are asking AI about products, services, and brands like yours.

The question isn't which one wins. The question is: Are you visible in both?

Same Query, Different Answers

Here's where it gets interesting.

Last month, I ran 50 brand-related queries through both ChatGPT and Gemini. Same prompts, same categories—SaaS tools, agencies, consumer products, B2B services. I wanted to see if they returned the same recommendations.

They didn't.

Not even close.

For the query "best project management software for agencies," ChatGPT cited Monday.com, Asana, and Basecamp in its top three. Gemini? Monday.com, ClickUp, and Teamwork.

Different tools. Different rankings. Different brands winning the visibility game.

I saw this pattern repeat across categories:

• CRM recommendations: 60% overlap between engines
• Marketing automation: 55% overlap
• Agency recommendations: Only 45% overlap

This isn't random noise. Different engines have different training data, different retrieval methods, and increasingly—different citation patterns.

Gemini leans heavily on Google's index. It privileges fresh content, structured data, and sources that perform well in traditional search. ChatGPT pulls from its training data plus web browsing, with different weighting for authority signals.

The implication is huge: Optimizing for one doesn't mean you're optimized for the other.

Why One-Size-Fits-All GEO Is Dead

Most brands I talk to are just starting to think about Generative Engine Optimization. The conversation usually goes something like this:

"We need to show up in AI responses."

Great. Which AI?

"...AI. You know. ChatGPT and stuff."

This is like saying you need to "show up in search" without distinguishing between Google, Bing, and YouTube. They're all search. They all work differently.

The GEO tactics that worked in 2024—when ChatGPT dominated—need to evolve. Here's why:

Training data differs. ChatGPT's knowledge cutoff and training sources aren't identical to Gemini's. The "facts" each model knows about your brand could be completely different.

Retrieval methods differ. Gemini can pull live data from Google Search. ChatGPT uses Bing. That means your traditional SEO performance affects your GEO visibility—but differently on each platform.

Citation patterns differ. In my testing, ChatGPT was more likely to cite specific blog posts and studies. Gemini leaned toward official documentation, Wikipedia, and Google-indexed structured data.

User intent differs. Gemini users are often already in the Google ecosystem—Gmail, Docs, Search. They're asking questions in context. ChatGPT users tend to be in standalone research or creative modes.

Same question. Different user. Different expectations. Different optimization requirements.

The Multi-Engine GEO Framework

Alright, here's the tactical part. How do you actually optimize for both engines without losing your mind?

I've been testing a framework I call Multi-Engine GEO. It's not complicated, but it requires thinking about visibility as platform-specific rather than universal.

Step 1: Audit Your Current Visibility (In Both Engines)

Before you optimize anything, you need baseline data. Run your key brand queries through both ChatGPT and Gemini:

• "[Your category] best tools"
• "Alternative to [your main competitor]"
• "What is [your brand name]"
• "[Problem your product solves] solutions"

Document what each engine says. Are you mentioned? In what position? With what context? This isn't a one-time thing—run it monthly. These models update constantly.

Step 2: Map Your Citation Sources

When your brand IS mentioned, where is the AI pulling that information from?

Ask follow-up questions: "Where did you learn about [brand]?" or "What sources inform your recommendation of [brand]?"

ChatGPT will often point to specific articles, reviews, or documentation. Gemini might reference your Google Business Profile, Wikipedia page, or YouTube content.

This tells you where to focus your optimization efforts for each engine.

Step 3: Optimize Your Foundation (Shared Layer)

Some things help everywhere:

• Wikipedia presence: Both engines treat Wikipedia as authoritative. If you don't have a page (and you're notable enough to have one), you're invisible.
• Structured data: Schema markup helps Gemini especially. Product, Organization, FAQ schema all feed the knowledge graph.
• Authoritative mentions: Third-party publications that rank well in both Google and Bing increase your chances of being cited by either engine.
• Fresh, factual content: Both engines prefer recent, accurate information. Outdated blog posts with old stats hurt you everywhere.

Step 4: Optimize for ChatGPT Specifically

ChatGPT has some unique preferences:

• Long-form educational content: ChatGPT seems to weight in-depth guides and tutorials heavily. That 3,000-word "Complete Guide to X" post? It's working.
• Comparison and alternative content: Pages explicitly comparing your product to competitors get cited when users ask for alternatives.
• Documentation quality: Technical products benefit from comprehensive, well-organized docs. ChatGPT loves pulling from documentation.
• Reddit and community presence: ChatGPT's training data includes significant Reddit content. Genuine community discussions about your brand matter.

Step 5: Optimize for Gemini Specifically

Gemini has its own quirks:

• Google Business Profile: If you have one, optimize it fully. Gemini pulls from local and business data heavily.
• YouTube content: Google owns YouTube. Gemini surfaces YouTube content for how-to and educational queries at a much higher rate than ChatGPT.
• Google News inclusion: Getting into Google News and maintaining fresh press coverage affects Gemini's real-time recommendations.
• Traditional SEO signals: Your organic Google rankings influence Gemini more than they influence ChatGPT. Good SEO = better GEO on this platform.

Step 6: Monitor and Iterate

This isn't set-and-forget. Both engines update their models regularly. What works today might not work in three months.

Build monitoring into your workflow:

• Monthly visibility audits in both engines
• Track citation source changes
• Note when competitors start appearing (or disappearing)
• Document any pattern shifts after major model updates

The Competitive Advantage No One's Talking About

Here's the thing: almost nobody is doing this yet.

Most brands haven't even started single-engine GEO. Multi-engine strategy? That's maybe 2% of the market.

Which means there's a massive first-mover advantage available right now.

The brands that figure out how to optimize for Gemini AND ChatGPT—understanding the differences, playing to each engine's preferences—will own the visibility space while everyone else is still debating whether AI search matters.

(Spoiler: 750 million users in one platform alone says it matters.)

The Uncomfortable Truth

I need to be honest with you about something.

This is more work. Multi-engine GEO is harder than single-engine GEO, which is already harder than traditional SEO, which is already harder than people think.

You're not just optimizing for one set of algorithms anymore. You're optimizing for fundamentally different AI systems with different knowledge bases, different retrieval methods, and different user bases.

But the brands that put in this work?

They'll be the ones that AI engines recommend—not just in ChatGPT, not just in Gemini, but across the entire landscape as new engines emerge.

Because here's what I can tell you after running these tests: the tactics that work across multiple engines tend to be the fundamentally sound ones. Great content. Clear authority signals. Genuine expertise. Strong third-party validation.

Multi-engine GEO isn't gaming systems. It's becoming genuinely recommendable—in a way that translates across platforms.

What To Do This Week

Don't overthink this. Start small:

1. Run 10 key queries through both ChatGPT and Gemini. Document where you stand.
2. Identify the gaps. Where are you visible in one but not the other?
3. Pick one optimization. Maybe it's improving your Google Business Profile. Maybe it's creating that comparison page you've been putting off.
4. Measure in 30 days. Run the same queries again. Did the needle move?

The platforms will keep evolving. The user bases will keep growing. But the fundamental skill—understanding how different AI engines see your brand and optimizing accordingly—that's the capability that matters.

Google overtaking OpenAI isn't the story.

The story is: Can your brand keep up with a world where AI visibility happens across multiple, different engines?

The answer should be yes. Now you know how to start.

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Want to see exactly where your brand stands in AI search—across multiple engines?

Get your free visibility audit — takes 2 minutes, shows you what Gemini and ChatGPT actually say about your brand.

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Found this useful? Forward it to a colleague who's still pretending AI search isn't real.

→ Related: earned authority loop that drives AI visibility

→ Related: 1.2% Rule explains why most brands are invisible

— Christian