There's a data point from BrightEdge from May 2026 that changes the standard reading on AI and the funnel: the middle of the funnel didn't disappear in AI search. It still exists, has real volume in every industry studied, and brand-owned pages represent between 42% and 79% of citations at that stage. The middle didn't die. It moved.
It moved to a place where you don't have direct control and where most marketing teams aren't present.
What changed in the consideration stage
The classic buyer journey had a linear logic: awareness, consideration, decision. Each stage happened in identifiable channels. The user saw an ad, landed on your blog, downloaded a whitepaper, entered a nurture sequence, and eventually raised their hand. That model allowed attribution, stage-level optimization, and content designed specifically for each moment of the journey.
| Stage | Classic funnel | Funnel with AI |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Blog, ads, social media | AI response to a query |
| Consideration | Whitepapers, nurture, comparison sites | AI conversation, brand synthesis |
| Decision | Demo, trial, sales call | Arrives at site with shortlist already formed |
| Marketer visibility | High at each stage | Low in awareness and consideration |
| Trackable touchpoints | Multiple | Primarily the final click |
The long middle of the funnel, where marketers historically nurtured a prospect across many touchpoints, is being compressed into a single conversation the buyer has with an AI model. Awareness and much of the consideration happen inside the model's response, where the buyer compares options, reads a synthesized view of your brand, and frequently forms a shortlist — all before visiting a single site.
The consideration stage didn't get eliminated. It became invisible to your analytics.
The buyer who arrives already researched
85% of B2B buyers purchase from vendors already on their consideration list before formal evaluation begins, according to Forrester. That number existed before AI, but AI accelerated it. The consideration list forms faster, with fewer visible touchpoints, and with more research depth than before.
The queries buyers use in AI aren't short keywords. They're long, conversational questions that contain ICP, budget constraints, technical requirements, and decision criteria. A single query can contain commercial, geographic, trust-based, and outcome-based intent at the same time. The model processes all of that and returns a response that synthesizes weeks of research in seconds.
When that user arrives at your site, they're not in discovery mode. They're in validation mode. They arrived with specific questions, already-formed objections, and comparisons already made. Content designed for someone who just discovered the problem isn't what they need.
The problem with current content
Most sites have two types of content: top-of-funnel blog posts that explain basic concepts, and product or pricing pages that speak directly to the offer. The middle is empty or full of generic content that doesn't answer the questions someone in real consideration stage is asking.
| Content type | Who it serves | Common gap |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness blog posts | User who just discovered the problem | Too generic for someone who already researched |
| Product/pricing pages | User ready to buy | Skips the validation stage |
| Use cases | User in consideration | Frequently too superficial |
| Own comparison content | User evaluating options | Rarely exists on the site itself |
| Objection-specific FAQs | User with concrete doubts | Almost always absent or generic |
| Implementation content | User evaluating the real cost | Almost never published out of fear of scaring buyers |
The questions a buyer in real consideration is asking are very different from what awareness content answers. Not "what is X" or "how does X work." It's "X vs Y for my specific case", "what happens when X fails", "what do customers who used X in my industry say", "how long does it take to implement X", "what do I need to have figured out before using X."
That's the type of content models cite when someone makes a consideration-stage query. And it's what most sites don't have.
Where the opportunity is
BrightEdge found that in the consideration stage of AI search, brand-owned pages represent between 42% and 79% of citations, while review and comparison aggregators represent between 1% and 7%. The opportunity is in owned domains, not third-party platforms.
| Citation source | Share of citations |
|---|---|
| Brand-owned pages | 42%–79% |
| Review aggregators (G2, Capterra) | 1%–7% |
| Specialized media | Variable by industry |
Source: BrightEdge AI Hyper Cube analysis across Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT, May 2026.
That inverts the logic many teams adopted: investing in G2, Capterra, and comparison sites as a middle-funnel strategy. For AI search specifically, what models cite in the consideration stage are primarily owned pages with specific, updated, and citable content. Investment in third parties helps with trust signals and external mentions, but the content that closes the consideration gap lives on your domain.
The concrete implication: consideration content has to be on your site, structured to be citable, and designed to answer the specific questions someone with your ICP asks when they already know they have a problem and are evaluating options. Not generic. Not awareness. Specific, precise, and focused on reducing decision friction for someone who almost decided.
What this implies for the site
If the buyer arriving from AI already completed their consideration stage, the site has to be designed to validate a decision they almost made — not to convince someone they have a problem.
That changes several things. The homepage can't be a broad branding exercise. It has to answer in the first few seconds the question the user is already asking: "Is this what I need for my specific case?" Product pages need to go beyond features and benefits. They need to anticipate the concrete objections of someone who already compared with competitors. Use case content needs to be specific enough that someone in consideration can recognize themselves in it.
The content focus shifts from creating demand to capturing demand that already exists but formed in a channel you don't control. And capturing that demand requires a site that speaks the language of someone who already researched, not someone who just discovered the problem.