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Most advice about optimizing for AI search is either too vague to act on or too technical for the person who owns the website. “Write great content” is not a plan.

Here is a test worth running before you read another word about AI search. Open ChatGPT and type the question your best customer would ask. “Who’s the best personal injury lawyer in the Loop?” “Which dentists in Lincoln Park take new patients?”...

If you’ve checked whether your business shows up in AI search results, you may have noticed something frustrating. You might appear in Google’s AI Overview for a query but not in ChatGPT. Or Perplexity mentions your competitor, but Google’s AI doesn’t....

Google doesn’t just see your website. It’s trying to understand your business as a thing that exists in the world, with a name, a location, services, a reputation, and a relationship to specific topics.

If you’ve been paying attention to digital marketing conversations over the last year, you’ve probably heard someone say that SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is dead and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is the future. You’ve probably also heard someone...

When Google’s AI Overview, ChatGPT, or Perplexity generates an answer to a question, it doesn’t pull from a random grab bag of websites. It runs an evaluation. Fast, systematic, and ruthless. Dozens of potential sources go in, and only a handful come out with a...

For over a decade, the formula was straightforward. Optimize your website, build backlinks, manage your Google Business Profile, and earn your way onto page one. That formula still matters. But it’s no longer the whole game.

When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overview to recommend a local business, the AI doesn’t just pick a name out of a hat. It runs a rapid credibility check, pulling from multiple data sources and evaluating trust signals before deciding which...

When someone asks ChatGPT, “Who’s the best personal injury lawyer in Chicago?” or “find me a reliable HVAC company near Lakeview,” the AI doesn’t guess. It runs an evaluation process that pulls from multiple data sources, weighs specific...

Your business name, address, and phone number appear in more places online than you probably realize. Your website, Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, industry directories, local chamber listings, data aggregators, and map apps. Each one of those listings is a data...