Answers
The questions business owners actually ask about AI visibility, answered straight — written the way we build client pages: the answer first, the evidence below, and nothing you'd have to take on faith.
The complete, leverage-ranked playbook for getting named by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI — plus the one page most businesses skip.
Read →ExplainerIt matters most for considered purchases — law, medical, financial, home services. For emergency needs, the map pack still wins. How to tell which you are.
Read →DiagnosticFive fixable causes an AI engine won't recommend you — thin profiles, unquotable pages, weak reviews — and how to tell which is yours.
Read →How-toThe exact DIY method: which engines, which questions, and why one check lies to you. A test you can run this afternoon.
Read →MeasurementThe API and the app share a name, not a behavior. The app browses, remembers, and follows a hidden system prompt; the API does none of it — so an API-based check measures a surface no customer uses.
Read →ExplainerThree acronyms, one real shift from ranking links to earning citations. What each means and why the old playbook only gets you halfway.
Read →MeasurementCited, mentioned, recommended — three different things, and only one sends you a client. The metric most tools miss, and why one check is worthless.
Read →PlaybookThe same business can be named on 'best' and invisible on 'affordable.' Framing decides the shortlist, so you win the phrasings your real customers use — not the vanity query.
Read →PlaybookGoogle's AI surfaces pull from Google's own profile data. A complete, accurate, well-maintained Business Profile is one of the strongest levers for AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini — and it barely touches the other engines.
Read →PlaybookAI says you're closed, lists the wrong hours, or invents services you don't offer. You can't edit the answer — you fix the sources it reads, then re-check until it propagates.
Read →PlaybookThe levers we've watched move ChatGPT's shortlist, ranked by leverage — and the single page most businesses are missing.
Read →PlaybookPerplexity reads your site and still may not name you. The fix is extractability — a quotable answer plus the vertical directories it cites.
Read →PlaybookGoogle's AI reads your Business Profile, reviews, trusted directories, and your own concrete-fact pages. AI Mode reads your content deeply. How to be a source.
Read →PlaybookGemini answers from memory as much as the live web — so it's an entity problem. Your Google Business Profile and consistency across the web are the levers.
Read →PlaybookClaude is the reviews-and-credentials engine. It ranks by your Google reviews in one mode and verifiable qualifications in another — and distrusts paid directories.
Read →ExplainerThe real price bands in 2026, from $19/mo tools to $30k/mo agencies — and how to read them without overpaying for the wrong tier.
Read →PlaybookAI answers now show ads. Can you buy your way in? You can buy a slot next to the answer — not being the answer. The difference, and when each pays.
Read →PlaybookStructured data helps engines understand your entity, not rank you directly. It's one lever among several — and it won't fix weak reviews, thin directories, or unquotable pages.
Read →PlaybookA text file that lists your pages for AI crawlers — cheap, harmless hygiene worth ten minutes. But there's no evidence the engines use it to rank you, so don't pay for a strategy around it.
Read →PlaybookAllow, block, or charge? For a business that wants to be recommended, crawlable is usually the point — and the real risk is an overzealous robots.txt cutting you off by accident.
Read →Buyer's guideReal tools grouped by the job you're hiring for, with honest caveats — including where our own service is the wrong call.
Read →More answers publish as the questions come in. If your customers are asking it, it belongs here.