When buyers ask AI for the best solution in your category, make sure you are listed as the top brand

AI doesn’t recommend you from your website – it recommends you from the third-party pages it already trusts for your category. We find the exact pages feeding AI answers for your queries, and get your brand onto them.

No cost, no commitment. A real snapshot of where you stand versus your named competitors.

AI assistant answer

"What are the best tools in your category in 2026?"
1
Competitor A
cited
2
Competitor B
cited
3
Competitor C
cited
?
Your brand
not mentioned
↓ with Above Apex
2
Your brand
cited & recommended
Track Across

Traditional search didn't go away. It got a generative layer on top.

SEO still runs underneath, but now a generative layer sits on top. Your buyer asks a question and gets back one answer that names a few brands, not ten blue links. To build it, the model pulls from a small set of pages it trusts. Not on those pages? You’re not in the answer – no matter how well you rank.

 

3-10%

Across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, a brand’s own website drove just 3 to 10 percent of the sources AI models cited. Everything else, retailers, review sites, YouTube, competitors, Reddit and editorial, is a third-party page you do not own. You cannot optimise your own site into the answer. You have to be present on the pages the model already trusts.
Own-site share of AI citations: ChatGPT 7% · Gemini 10% · Perplexity 3%.

Source: McKinsey & Company, State of the Consumer 2026. Top 10 cited sources for large language model responses across 25 consumer brands (XEO360, Oct 2025 to May 2026, UK and US).

Exactly where brand mentions and links move the needle

An AI answer is not one step. It runs through a pipeline. Brand mentions and links each help at different stages. Here is where.

Brand mentions help here

Links help here

No direct control

Stage 01

Memory

What the model already thinks of you, before it searches.
MENTIONS

Stage 02

Fan-out

The model splits the question into several searches.

NO CONTROL

Stage 03

Candidates

Pages get pulled in as sources for each search.

MENTIONS
LINKS

Stage 04

Filter

Hundreds of pages narrow down to a trusted few.

 

LINKS

Stage 05

Mention

The model names brands from what it read.

MENTIONS

Stage 06

Citation

Links get attached to back up the claims.

LINKS

Stage 07

Recommend

Who the model actually recommends, and how.

MENTIONS

What brand mentions do

What links do

The point: brand mentions get you named and recommended, links are the foundation that gets you into the room. Lead with mentions, back them with links, and you show up in the answer. We run both, aimed at the exact pages your category’s AI answers are built from.

The brands we've helped get into AI answers & Google SERPs and what they say about us

How we get your brand into the answer

A measured, repeatable system. Not guesswork, not hype. We know which pages your buyers’ AI answers are built from, and we get you into them.

1

Research

We research and analyze where you appear across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, broken down by the exact questions your buyers ask.

Research & analyze

2

Find the gaps

We surface the pages AI already cites for your category where competitors show up and you do not. That becomes your target list, ranked by opportunity.

Gap analysis

3

Build presence

We earn your brand mentions and links on those pages: listicles, YouTube, LinkedIn, G2, Reddit and editorial. Quality placements, never cheap packages.

Brand mentions + links

4

Tracking

You watch visibility, share of voice and citations move against your named competitors. Real retrievals with context, not bare percentages.

Tracking & Reporting

We target every surface AI pulls from

AI models do not read one page type. They pull from communities, review sites, videos and editorial. We build your presence across all of them, guided by what your category’s AI answers actually cite.

●YouTube
● "Top X Solutions" Roundups
● LinkedIn
● G2 & review sites
● Reddit
● Editorial & digital PR
● Comparison & alternatives pages

Your free AI visibility audit

In one short report we show you exactly where you stand in AI search, and the fastest way to close the gap.

Request Your Free Audit