How AI is reinventing the holiday gift guide

"The humble gift guide is taking on even greater importance this holiday season. Beyond driving immediate sales, brands this year are angling to get into gift guides to help them with SEO and GEO, and build overall awareness in the long term. But, rather than taking a "spray and pray" approach, companies are getting more selective about who they pitch, and why, to increase the odds that they get into the most relevant gift guides for their brand."

"Many are using it to bolster their GEO strategies, she said, since AI-powered recommendations are increasingly drawing on third-party sites and editorial content to inform the results surfaced to users. Put simply, the more mentions a brand gets in trusted publications, the more likely it is that a ChatGPT user might see it. "They're now a key signal in the broader discovery ecosystem," she said. "A Vogue or Strategist mention doesn't just drive clicks in December, but it's going to shape how AI surfaces that brand year-round.""

Gift guides are increasingly important for holiday marketing, serving immediate sales and long-term visibility through SEO and GEO. Brands pursue selective pitches to relevant outlets, targeting Substacks, human editors, and niche audiences to increase inclusion odds. AI-powered recommendation systems draw on editorial mentions, so placements in trusted publications can influence how AI surfaces brands year-round. Newer brands use gift guide mentions to establish credibility and attract shoppers beyond Q4. Some founders pitch editors directly to secure listings, and brands value both the traffic and the credibility that editorial mentions confer.

Read at Modern Retail