Black Friday 2026 falls on 27th November, and the visibility that decides it is built long before then. This is the talk I gave on the AI-Powered Marketing Stage at eCommerce Expo 2026, at ExCeL London on 24th September.
Across the 2025 holiday season, visitors arriving from AI converted 31% better than everyone else, and 38% better on Black Friday itself (Adobe). Most of that traffic never shows up as AI in GA4, so the channel looks far smaller than it really is.
Shoppers now compare and shortlist inside ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode before they reach a retailer's website. Call it AI search optimisation, answer engine optimisation (AEO) or generative engine optimisation (GEO), but the work that gets you into those answers is the same, and it takes months rather than days.
What I cover:
Why AI-driven search deserves your attention now rather than in November, what AI traffic is worth once it does arrive, and why AI platforms are still mostly organic even with ChatGPT Ads live in the UK.
Five things to fix before peak: hunt down every last-year reference, build a Black Friday page for every brand and product type, get price, stock, delivery and returns matching everywhere, answer the ten questions your customers actually ask, and publish your promo codes on your own site.
Three ways to be recommended as well as visible: make it obvious who you are and why to trust you, find out what ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity say about your brand, and monitor those answers weekly.
I've used real examples throughout from Smart Home Sounds and Physical Company, a SOZO benchmark across 28 brands showing 82% of AI citations come from sources other than your own website, and eight things you can start on Monday.
🔗 SOZO, where I am Head of Organic Search:
https://sozodesign.co.uk/
🔗 Connect with me on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cargoodrich/
🔗 My personal website and industry thoughts, Goodrich.Digital:
https://goodrich.digital/
🔗 Download my free Black Friday planning template:
https://goodrich.digital/free-black-friday-planning-template/
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