Only 11% of Marketers Expect Google Search to Be Their Customers' Main Starting Point in Two Years

RALEIGH, NC / ACCESS Newswire / September 18, 2026 / Ask a room of marketers where their customers will start looking for them two years from now, and Google search finishes a distant second. In research released today by ACCESS Newswire, gathered live from marketers at HubSpot UNBOUND 2026, 71% named AI assistants as their customers' primary discovery channel by 2028. Just 11% named the search engine that has defined their discipline for a generation.

The number matters because the money is already following it. 80% of respondents are increasing or starting a budget for AI search visibility next year, and 29% are moving dollars out of paid media to fund it. For any company whose customers still arrive through search, the survey is an early read on where competitors are spending next - and how quickly they intend to get there.

The reallocation is showing up in the job itself. 91% of respondents say their role changed in the past 12 months, and two thirds took on new artificial intelligence responsibilities inside their existing remit rather than waiting for a reorganization to create them.

ACCESS Newswire participated in HubSpot UNBOUND 2026 as a sponsor, and the findings were collected during "Getting Cited: How PR and Marketing Earn Visibility," a session led by Charlie Terenzio, SVP of Product at ACCESS Newswire, on September 16th in Boston.

HubSpot UNBOUND 2026 drew one of the most senior marketing and communications audiences of the year, and the composition of the room is part of what gives the data its weight: 83% of respondents were brand-side marketers, and 63% work at companies of 51 to 1,000 employees - practitioners with direct responsibility for the budgets and channels they were asked about. The conference itself set the agenda they answered against, with AI dominating hallway conversation for 80% of respondents, split between AI search and answer engine optimization (49%) and AI agents (31%).

A New Habit Has Already Formed

A task that did not exist three years ago is now routine. 69% of marketers say they regularly check whether AI answers cite their company. Only 6% have never looked.

That habit was formed by the same forces filling the conference agenda, and the room reflected it back: attendees arrived already comparing notes on how their own brands surface in AI answers.

The Budget Is Already Moving

Marketers are not waiting for the category to mature before funding it. 80% are increasing or starting a budget for AI search visibility next year. 29% are moving money out of paid media and into earned and content, and 31% of all respondents are raising that spend while cutting or shifting paid in the same twelve months.

The shift is gradual rather than abrupt. 43% saw organic traffic ease by 10% to 25% this year, and no respondent reported a steeper decline, giving teams room to build the new channel while the existing one still performs.

Measurement Is the Next Thing to Build

Conviction has run ahead of instrumentation, and marketers know it. 43% can measure their brand's visibility in AI answers using tools today. Another 46% do it manually, prompt by prompt - a clear signal of demand for the category that is now forming around it.

That is why 43% name proving return on investment as their priority concern for the coming year, the most common answer in the survey. The appetite is established; the evidence layer is what teams are building next.

What It Means for the Next Two Years

"Eleven percent. That is how many marketers think Google search will still be the front door in two years," said Charlie Terenzio, SVP of Product at ACCESS Newswire. "You can argue with the timeline, but you cannot argue with where these teams are putting next year's budget. They have made the call already."

"The opportunity over the next two years belongs to teams that treat a citation in an AI answer the way they always treated a front-page placement: something you earn, and something you can prove you earned," Terenzio added. "Credit to HubSpot for convening the audience that could answer this honestly. These were practitioners describing their own budgets and their own jobs, not forecasters."

In Their Words

Marketers were asked, in their own words, what is changing. Three responses:

Methodology

35 marketers were surveyed live during the "Getting Cited" session at HubSpot UNBOUND 2026 in Boston on September 16, 2026. The instrument comprised single-select questions plus two open-response questions. 83% of respondents were brand-side marketers and 63% worked at companies of 51 to 1,000 employees.

Assets Available to Media

• Presentation slides - "Getting Cited: How PR and Marketing Earn Visibility," HubSpot UNBOUND 2026

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SOURCE: ACCESS Newswire Inc.