Brand discovery does not start with Google the way it used to. People are finding brands in AI tools, on social platforms, in marketplaces, and in retail environments, often before they even open a traditional search engine.
That change is bigger than adding one more channel to a media plan. It is changing what a strong digital marketing hire looks like, and what a good brief needs to ask for.
Why an SEO-only brief misses the bigger picture
For a long time, a digital marketing brief could rely on a single core skill: search engine optimisation. Google was the front door, and a candidate who could rank well there would cover most of what the role required.
That front door has multiplied. AI tools, social platforms, marketplaces and retail environments are each genuine discovery surfaces of their own, not side channels to mention in passing.
For a hiring manager, this means a brief built around “SEO experience” no longer tells you what you need to know. It confirms a candidate understands one surface, when the role calls for someone who understands discoverability as a whole.
What separates a pragmatic operator from a buzzword chaser
The candidates worth hiring have a pragmatic view of how a brand gets found across these different channels, with clear, sequenced steps for getting there. Reciting the newest acronyms does not show that same capability.
Look for people who can point to a clear, sequenced plan connecting search, social, marketplaces and AI tools into one coherent brand presence. That plan matters more than any single platform expertise or credential.
In an interview, ask the candidate to walk you through how they would evolve a brand’s presence across these channels, step by step. That answer tells you more about their capability than whether they can define GEO or AEO.
For your next senior digital marketing brief:
- Name omnichannel discoverability as an explicit requirement, alongside your existing search and content asks.
- Build one interview question around it: ask the candidate for their plan connecting search, social, marketplaces and AI tools, rather than asking them to define GEO or AEO.
Why GEO and AEO belong in your next senior brief
We expect GEO, AEO and AI-search visibility to feature more heavily in senior digital briefs. That is a prediction worth building into how you scope a role now, rather than something to react to once it has already come up in a candidate conversation.
If this capability only gets added to a role after it has been advertised, you end up hiring against an old brief and then asking someone to grow into a new one. Writing it into the role from the outset avoids that gap.
Ready to talk about your next marketing hire? Get in touch.
Lilian
Digital Marketing, Social & Analytics Recruitment
Last updated: September 2026
