Practical Experiments in AI Search Visibility
John Greer If you run a small business, you have probably started hearing about AI search. You may have seen discussions about: You may also have seen advice suggesting that businesses need to: Some of those activities may be valuable. However, I think many small businesses should start with a more fundamental question: Does AI actually understand … Read more
Most business websites explain what the business does. An accountant might have pages for: A solicitor might have pages covering different areas of law. A marketing agency might have pages for SEO, PPC, social media and web design. Those pages are useful. Customers need to know which services a business provides. But there is another … Read more
If you run a small business and keep hearing about AI search, AI visibility, ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI recommendations, it can be difficult to know what you are actually supposed to do about any of it. Do you need new software? Should you hire an agency? Do you need to rewrite your website? … Read more
One of the strangest things about AI search is that you can ask the same question twice and get a different answer. A business might be recommended in Google AI Mode, ChatGPT or another AI search tool on one search, then disappear when you repeat the query later. That can make AI visibility feel random. … Read more
One of the potential frustrations with any AI visibility monitoring tool is fairly obvious. It can tell you that a competitor appears in AI-generated answers more often than you do. It can show you which websites are being cited, identify prompts where your business is missing and track whether your visibility is improving or declining. … Read more
I have previously recommended Otterly.ai as an AI visibility monitoring tool that I think is particularly interesting for small businesses. My reasoning has been fairly simple. Otterly.ai’s Lite plan currently costs $29 per month and lets you track 15 prompts daily across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. Google AI Mode, Gemini and … Read more
When a small business first looks at AI visibility tracking, one of the obvious questions is: How many prompts do I actually need to monitor? Some AI visibility platforms allow businesses to track dozens or even hundreds of prompts. More data can certainly be useful. But for a small business getting started, I think there … Read more
If a company sells software designed to help businesses monitor their visibility in AI search, there is an obvious question worth asking: How visible is the company itself in AI search? I have been looking at Otterly.ai as a practical AI visibility monitoring option for small businesses. But rather than simply reviewing its features and … Read more
When businesses think about being discovered online, the traditional question has often been: “Which keywords do we need to rank for?” But AI-driven search introduces a different challenge. Customers are increasingly asking AI systems to help them make decisions: The question for businesses is therefore not only: “Are we visible for a search term?” It … Read more
A sudden drop in website traffic can be worrying. For many businesses, their website is an important source of enquiries, customers and revenue. So when visitor numbers decline, one of the first questions owners ask is: “What caused this?” With the rise of AI search, AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools, some … Read more