What is AI SEO? Optimising for Google, ChatGPT and AI Overviews.
A specialist UK agency engineering visibility across AI-powered and traditional search — so your brand is found where buyers are actually looking.
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You're not optimisingfor AI.
You're optimisingto be the answer.
The shift isn't from ranking on Google to ranking on one AI tool. It's from being on the page to being the source the answer is built from — across every LLM your customers use.
A brand cited inside an AI Overview beats a brand sitting in position 7 of the blue links underneath it. A brand named by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or Gemini in response to a buying-intent query beats a brand the user has to scroll past three competitors to find. The work isn't to win one engine — it's to be the source every engine reaches for.
That's the work — engineering the entity, content, and authority signals so that AI systems can't construct an answer in your category without you in it.
→ CITATION > POSITION · SOURCE > RESULT
Search changed.
Most agencies haven't.
When someone searches for your category today, they often get an AI-generated answer before they ever see a list of links. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity — these systems synthesise answers from the web and choose which brands to cite.
If your brand isn't structured to be cited, you're invisible to a growing proportion of your potential customers — regardless of where you rank.
We've been building AI visibility frameworks since the earliest versions of AI-augmented search. We cover both channels — Google organic and AI citation — because your customers use both.
The AI SEO service,
end to end.
Answer Engine Optimisation
We engineer your brand to appear in AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Gemini — the new front page of the internet.
Google Organic SEO
Technical SEO, content strategy, and internal linking architecture that compounds over time — building durable rankings that don't collapse when the algorithm shifts.
Entity & Authority Building
Structured data, schema implementation, and Knowledge Graph signals that establish your brand as a trusted entity across both Google and AI systems.
Content Strategy & Execution
Evidence-first content engineered for AI extractability — structured to rank, cited by AI answers, and written to reflect your brand voice and expertise.
Competitive Visibility Analysis
We map exactly where competitors are appearing in Google and AI answers, identify the gaps, and build a strategy to take their positions.
AI Citation Tracking
Monthly sampling of AI responses across your target queries. We track Answer Inclusion Rate and Citation Share so you know what the work is actually achieving.
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What AIactually reads.
AI systems don't pull a single ranking score. They build a profile of your brand from six signal categories — and weight them differently depending on the query.
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Example: a credible mid-market SaaS brand
→ GREEN = ESTABLISHED · AMBER = GROWING · WHITE INTERIOR = WORK ZONE
Each AI system weights these differently. Google AI Overviews leans on schema and domain authority. Perplexity weighs citation density and content recency. ChatGPT prioritises entity strength and content structure. The work is to build all six — so the brand is citable regardless of which engine the query lands in.
→ SIX SIGNALS · FOUR ENGINES · ONE BRAND PROFILE
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The numberwe actually report on.
Answer Inclusion Rate (AIR) is the percentage of your priority queries that name your brand inside an AI-generated answer. It's the AI-era equivalent of ranking position — but binary, and measured across every platform that matters.
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One query, four engines, one rate
→ AIR = (queries cited / queries measured) × 100, scored monthly across all priority platforms
We sample your priority queries every month, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Gemini. The aggregate score is your AIR. Unlike traditional ranking metrics, AIR is binary at the query level — you're either named in the answer or you're not. There's no "AI position 7."
For most B2B clients we target a 60%+ AIR within six months. For the recruitment client on the case study below, we took it from 8% to 71%.
→ MEASURED MONTHLY · FOUR PLATFORMS · BINARY PER QUERY
6 query clusters.
One recruitment firm.
A specialist tech recruitment agency based in London. Before working with us, AI platforms cited them in just 8% of relevant queries. Four months later, they appear in over two-thirds of AI-generated answers in their niche.
* Illustrative case. AI citation rates vary by query type, platform, and market.
Not sure where AI sees you?
Get a Search Presence Report.
We assess where you're being found across Google and AI platforms, where you're invisible, and what's costing you leads — before you commit to anything.
Audit. Strategy.
Execution. Results.
Search Presence Report
We baseline your entire search and AI footprint — technical performance, content gaps, AI citation rate, and where competitors are beating you. No guesswork; every recommendation comes from data.
Strategy & Roadmap
We build a prioritised roadmap ordered by commercial impact. Technical issues that are costing you visibility come first. Then content. Then AI citation work. You see the full plan before implementation starts.
Implementation
We execute. Paul Gordon leads every engagement directly — no handoffs, no juniors. Work is documented so you own the knowledge and aren't dependent on us indefinitely.
Measure & Compound
Monthly reporting tracks organic traffic, AI citation rate, keyword positions, and conversion impact. We refine the strategy as the search and AI landscape evolves.
"Every client I take on, I work on directly. I built BeFound Search specifically so I could stay in the work — not manage people who do it. That's the whole point."
I've been in search for 18 years. I've seen every major algorithm shift, every AI pivot, every agency model that promises scale and delivers mediocrity. I'm not interested in building a headcount. I'm interested in building visibility for a small number of clients who take it seriously.
FAQs.
// ABOVE-FOOTER BLOCK · what we engineer
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SEO used to be ranking.Now it's presence.
In the old world, an SEO agency optimised one thing: where you rank on Google. Today your customer also asks ChatGPT, scans an AI Overview, checks reviews, then searches your brand to verify. BeFound engineers your presence across every one of those surfaces — led by Paul directly, no juniors, evidence-based.
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What you used to buy from an SEO agency — and what BeFound actually engineers
→ ONE PARTNER · EVERY SURFACE · LED BY PAUL DIRECTLY
Let's see where
you're invisible.
A Search Presence Report is the fastest way to understand your exact search and AI footprint — and what it's costing you. £399, one-off, delivered within 14 days.