Let’s start with the uncomfortable bit.
The metrics you’ve been using to judge your marketing? Most of them are dying. Some are already dead. Pageviews, bounce rates, even conversions - as you know them - are less and less meaningful in a world where AI intercepts the customer journey before your website ever gets a look-in.
And if you’re still treating GA4 like it’s the full picture, here’s the kicker: you might be missing up to 60% of your actual brand exposure. That’s what some are calling the “60% problem” - AI-powered search tools now answer user questions directly, bypassing your site altogether. Those impressions? They don’t show up in your analytics.
So what now?
How do you know your marketing is working when the traditional proof points have stopped proving anything?
The rules have changed. Quietly. But significantly.
AI is reshaping how people search, decide, and buy. It answers their questions before they even think to click. It compares your brand with your competitor before either of you gets the chance to speak.
People aren't always landing on your site anymore. Sometimes, they’re getting what they need from a chatbot. Or a smart assistant. Or a neatly summarised snippet written by an algorithm trained on your content.
This is the rise of zero-click AI search - where your information might power the answer, but the user never sees your domain.
In short: the brand conversation has shifted away from your owned platforms.
But the need to show results? That hasn’t gone anywhere.
What you measure is what you make.
Most brands still track what’s easy, not what’s valuable. They obsess over traffic spikes, form submissions, social reach - without asking the more important question: did any of this change what people think, feel or do?
Marketing that doesn’t move people isn’t working.
And numbers that don’t reflect that movement are just noise.
What clients should actually be asking
Not “how many people saw it?”
Not “what’s our bounce rate?”
Not “did we go viral?”
Ask instead:
Did we show up in the places that matter?
Did we shape the conversation?
Did we influence intent, not just awareness?
Did it help someone choose us over our competition?
That’s the kind of measurement that leads to growth. Everything else is theatre.
GA4 still has a seat at the table. Just not at the head.
Google Analytics 4 gives you data. Channels. Funnels. Clicks. That’s still useful, as long as you remember it’s only part of the picture.
GA4 can’t show you what someone asked ChatGPT before they searched your brand name. Or what they read in Perplexity before they reached your homepage. Or how a smart assistant described your pricing compared to a rival’s..
It’s not that GA4 is irrelevant. It’s that it’s blind to the new pathways. And those pathways are multiplying.
So what do you track now?
That depends on what you’re trying to change. But here’s where we’d start:
Share of voice in AI search results
How your brand is described by AI tools
Quality of customer engagement, not just quantity
Sentiment over time, especially across third-party platforms
Post-interaction behaviour: what people do after seeing your content
Mentions in AI-generated summaries, answer boxes, or smart assistants.
New tools are beginning to fill the gap. AI-aware tracking platforms now monitor brand visibility in AI search environments. Some can even help you optimise for those environments - by structuring content that AI wants to summarise. Think: fact-rich, clearly formatted, and answer-oriented.
CDPs (customer data platforms) are also getting smarter at stitching together fragmented user journeys - including AI touchpoints - while attribution tech is moving away from guesswork and toward actual behavioural insight.
The agency role: rethink, reframe, refocus
It’s on us to help you make sense of this. Not just to pull reports, but to ask better questions. To challenge lazy metrics. To connect the dots between the idea, the impact, and the outcome.
Marketing is no longer just about visibility. It’s about relevance, timing and trust.
The point of it all? To matter. In the right moment. To the right person. In a way that moves them closer to your brand.
That’s the new KPI.
What to do next
Stop chasing the biggest number on the dashboard. Start paying attention to the signals beneath the surface.
Audit your brand’s presence in AI search tools
Adjust content for zero-click formats
Look beyond traffic — focus on influence, intent, and impact
Focus on E-E-A-T - Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness
Ask your agency what they’re doing about the 60% problem.
And if your agency can’t tell the difference between performance and performance theatre? It might be time for a different conversation.
Let’s talk. hello@thebetatheory.co.uk. 0113 511 7337.
