Rank #1 on Google,
and still invisible to AI.
Search has split in two. Regular rankings still matter, but a separate layer of AI answers, citations and recommendations now shapes buying decisions before people ever reach your website. We make sure you show up in both.
For a small remote team, Teamline is a strong pick: it combines tasks with async updates, and reviewers often mention how quickly teams set it up.
Search changed, and most businesses didn't notice
For 25 years, SEO meant one thing: rank on Google. That's still true and still important. But a second layer of search has appeared that runs on different rules, and more and more buyers use it before they ever open a search engine.
Before (2022): search meant Google
Now (2026 on): search means Google plus AI
AEO and GEO: what they mean
Answer engine optimization
Where it shows up: Google AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask, voice search results and Google Assistant.
Generative engine optimization
Where it shows up: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Claude.
How AI tools decide who to recommend
AI tools don't rank pages. They build a picture of which brands are the most trusted, the most relevant and the most cited for a given question. Understanding that picture is where every strategy we build starts.
Mentions and citations from other sites
This matters most. AI tools learn who's trusted in a category mostly from what other respected sources say: review sites (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot), industry publications, analyst reports and news coverage. A business that isn't mentioned in any of them is mostly invisible to AI recommendations, however good its own website is.
Structured data that defines your business
AI crawlers read structured data to understand what a business is, what it does and how it relates to others. Schema, especially Organization, Product, SoftwareApplication, LocalBusiness and FAQ, gives AI tools a clear, machine-readable description of your business, so they're less likely to get it wrong and more likely to cite it.
Content that answers buyers' questions directly
"What does [product] do?", "Who is [brand]?", "How does [product] compare to [competitor]?": these are the questions AI tools write answers to. If your own content doesn't answer them clearly and factually, the AI will use whatever third-party sources do, which may be competitors, reviewers or outdated information.
Links from respected sites in your category
Links still matter a lot. AI tools don't read PageRank, but the publications that rank well, and so are trusted as sources, are the ones that link out editorially. Being cited in an article that ranks well multiplies the effect, and a listing in a respected industry directory works the same way.
E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authority and trust
AI tools are trained to give more weight to content from people with proven real-world expertise. Bylined content, linked author bios, qualifications, speaking credits, press mentions and social proof all help AI tools decide how confidently to recommend you.
How many reviews, how recent and how positive
For product and service recommendations, review data carries a lot of weight. The number of reviews, how recent they are, the average rating and whether the company replies all help AI tools judge whether a business is active, reputable and worth recommending.
The answer that shows up before your #1 ranking
Google's AI Overviews now appear for most research and buying searches. They sit above the regular results, combine an answer from several sources and cite those sources. Being cited brings real, qualified traffic, and being left out hands those views to competitors.
- Notion
- Linear
- Your brand ✓
- What triggers an AI Overview. They appear for searches Google sees as having a clear answer it can put together: most "best X for Y", "how to", "what is" and comparison searches. They're less common when people search for a brand by name or are ready to buy.
- How Google picks the sources it cites. Google cites the sources it sees as most trusted and relevant. Pages that rank well for the search, show strong E-E-A-T and answer the question in a clear, structured way are the most likely to be cited. Being cited isn't the same as ranking #1: some cited pages rank on page two or lower.
- Why a citation is worth having. AI Overview citations appear above all the regular results. They get fewer clicks than a #1 ranking, but the brand impression is stronger: people read your name in the answer before they decide whether to click anything.
- What we do to get you cited. We add FAQ and how-to schema, write answers in the format AI Overviews pull from, build depth on your topics to show expertise, and track which searches in your category trigger AI Overviews so we can target them.
The buyer who never opens Google
People use ChatGPT and Perplexity differently from Google: more like a conversation, and more "help me decide" than "show me options." These buyers are often further along. If you're missing from the AI's answer, you aren't even on their list.
How ChatGPT and Perplexity decide what to recommend
What we build to get you recommended by AI
Telling AI tools exactly what you are
Structured data is the machine-readable layer that lets AI crawlers understand your content precisely instead of guessing. It's the foundation of both AEO and GEO, and the most valuable technical change most businesses still haven't fully made.
Organization
FAQPage
Product / SoftwareApplication
AggregateRating
Person / ProfilePage
LocalBusiness
HowTo
BreadcrumbList and WebPage
The proof AI tools trust most
E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority and trust) is Google's framework for judging content quality. In practice, it's also how AI tools decide whose content to cite and which brands to recommend. It takes time to build, and it lasts.
Experience
What we build: named case studies, original research and data, client testimonials with specifics, and documented before-and-after results.
Expertise
What we build: author bios and credentials, bylined articles, podcast and speaking credits, and expert citations in your content.
Authority
What we build: editorial backlinks, features in industry publications, review site profiles and listings in category directories.
Trust
What we build: a plan to get reviews, a detailed About page, business details confirmed in schema, and the same name, address and phone number everywhere.
You can't improve what you don't measure
AI visibility is harder to measure than rankings, because there's no "position 1" in an AI answer. But there are useful measures you can track, and we track all of them.
AI Overview tracking
Checks of what AI tools say about you
Brand mention monitoring
Review growth
Citation source tracking
Monthly AI visibility report
Who AI visibility matters to most
SaaS and B2B software
Ecommerce and consumer brands
Professional services
Local and multi-location businesses
Growing companies building a brand
Businesses that already rank well on Google
From AI audit to lasting visibility
AI visibility audit
We audit where you stand in AI search today: we ask the major AI tools the questions your buyers ask, map where you appear in Google's AI Overviews, review your structured data, check how well your site shows E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority and trust) and compare your citations with competitors in your category.Mapping gaps and opportunities
A clear map of where you appear, where you don't, which searches you should appear for and which changes will make the biggest difference. In order of likely return and effort, not just what's easiest.Structured data and content
Schema on every relevant page type, FAQ content set up the way AI Overviews pick it up, and content on and off your site that makes it clear exactly who your brand is.Citation and authority building
Targeted placements on the review sites, industry publications and other sources AI tools rely on most in your category. It's ongoing work, not a one-off campaign, and AI visibility grows as citations add up.Monitoring and monthly reporting
Monthly checks of AI tools, AI Overview tracking, brand mention monitoring and review growth, with a clear summary of how your AI visibility is changing and what's planned for next month.
Common questions
They're related but different. Traditional SEO targets Google's regular results. AI search visibility targets AI answers: Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT recommendations, Perplexity citations and voice search replies. Much of the work overlaps (structured data, backlinks, E-E-A-T), but what you optimize for and how you measure it are different. We offer it on its own and as an add-on to regular SEO.
No, and be wary of any agency that says it can. AI recommendations work on probabilities, not fixed rules. What we can do is steadily improve the things that make your brand more likely to appear, and track them so you can see the work taking effect, even before you see the recommendation.
Google AI Overview citations, which respond to structured data and content changes on your site, can improve within 4 to 8 weeks. ChatGPT and Perplexity recommendations change more slowly, because they depend on publications and citations that build up over months. A real improvement there usually takes 4 to 6 months of steady work.
No, it extends it. Traditional SEO (rankings and organic traffic) is still important. AI visibility adds a second layer above and next to those rankings. Over the next 5 years, the businesses that do best in search are likely to be the ones that invest in both.
Yes, that's the most common starting point. The audit sets a baseline, and the strategy starts with the changes that give you visibility fastest. Starting from zero isn't a disadvantage; it means the gaps are clear and fixable.
We track measures that stand in for it: whether you're cited in AI Overviews (measured in Search Console and by hand), how often and how positively your brand is mentioned, review growth, structured data checks and regular checks of AI tools (asking buyer questions and recording the answers). We report on all of it monthly, with clear trends.
Don't let competitors take your place.
Start with an AI Visibility Audit. We'll map where you stand in AI search today, compare you with competitors and show you exactly where the gaps are.