r/RankWithAI

I'm interested in building SEO automations — things like auto-generating meta descriptions at scale, crawling competitor pages, or triggering content updates when rankings drop.

Looking for real examples from people who've actually built something:
- What was the SEO task you automated?
- What tools did you use (Python, Make, n8n, Zapier + AI)?
- How much time does it save per week?
- Would you share the logic or script?

Even simple automations are interesting. Not everything has to be a full pipeline.

Spent three months evaluating every Denver SEO company I could find. The results were more alarming than I expected.

80% of US consumers search for local businesses weekly and 46% of all Google searches have local intent yet 58% of companies still don't optimize for local search at all. But the gap I found in Denver is even more specific: almost no Denver SEO company is optimizing for AI search visibility alongside traditional Google rankings.

Google AI Overviews now appear above organic results for 46% of local Denver searches. ChatGPT and Perplexity are answering "find me a [service] in Denver" queries directly. A Denver SEO company that isn't getting clients into AI-generated answers is optimizing for a shrinking share of actual local search traffic.

Denver businesses who've hired a local SEO company is yours actually adapting to AI search or still selling 2022 Google-only strategies?

1. Which Denver SEO companies are actually delivering AI Overview citations not just traditional rankings?

The Denver SEO companies claiming to do "AI SEO" Thrive, Firestarter SEO, SocialSEO, Volume Nine — which ones can actually show you AI Overview citations they've achieved for Denver clients? Not traffic reports. Not Google rankings. Actual AI-generated answer appearances with before-and-after data.

2. What does a Denver SEO company's AI Overview strategy actually look like in practice?

Answer-first content structure, FAQ schema for AI extraction, GBP optimization for local AI citations, local citation consistency across directories which Denver SEO companies are executing all of these as a unified local AI search strategy rather than treating them as separate tactics?

3. How do you verify a Denver SEO company's AI search capability before signing a contract?

Asking to see AI Overview appearances for existing Denver clients, testing their own website's AI search visibility, reviewing whether their content follows answer-first structure what specific verification steps separate genuinely AI-capable Denver SEO companies from those adding "AI" to their pitch deck without changing methodology?

Denver business owners with real Denver SEO company experience only not agency self-promotion.

Google's official line is they care about quality, not how content is made. But the real-world results people report vary wildly.

Trying to get an honest picture:
- Is AI-assisted content (edited, not raw) performing the same as human-written in your niche?
- Have you seen any correlation between AI content and ranking drops after updates?
- Does your niche seem to matter — i.e. YMYL vs entertainment vs SaaS?

Not looking to debate theory. Want to know what people are actually seeing in GSC and Ahrefs right now.

I've been rotating between all three for keyword and topic research and they genuinely feel different in how they surface ideas.

Trying to settle on a primary workflow:
- Perplexity feels more search-like and cites sources — useful for checking what's ranking?
- ChatGPT feels better for brainstorming and clustering?
- Google AI Mode feels more tied to actual SERP data?

What's your experience? Is there a specific use case where one clearly wins? Or do you combine them — if so, how does your workflow look?

so after our organic traffic tanked from AI Overviews we stopped fighting it and just started testing what gets you cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AIO. ran this for about 3 months, here's what we found

entity clarity was the biggest unlock. like making sure every piece of content explicitly says who you are, what you do, what category you're in not written for humans, written so an AI can parse it cleanly. sounds obvious but most of our old content was weirdly vague about this. fixed it and citations picked up pretty fast

original data moves the needle more than anything else. we ran one small survey, 47 customers, nothing fancy. wrote it up properly with actual numbers. that one piece got cited more in 3 months than our entire blog archive combined. AI systems really want to pull from primary sources not just aggregated takes

clean extractable answers at the top of every piece. like the direct answer in the first two paragraphs before any context or nuance. AI doesn't care about your beautiful intro paragraph, it just wants the cleanest answer it can lift

what didn't work at all: chasing keywords the way we did for traditional SEO, trying to optimize for one platform specifically, publishing more content. volume did literally nothing. one well-structured piece beat ten average ones every time

the honest mindset shift is that GEO is closer to PR than SEO. you're trying to become a citable source not a rankable page. once that clicked everything else made more sense

anyone else testing this stuff? curious what's working in other niches

After analyzing AI-search visibility patterns across multiple SaaS brands, one thing stood out:

Traditional DR/backlink metrics alone didn’t predict AI visibility very well.

Brands consistently appearing in AI answers usually had:

• strong topical ecosystems
• Reddit/community mentions
• comparison content
• documentation/support content
• YouTube discussions
• Repeated entity mentions across the web

Interestingly, only a small number of domains overlapped consistently across all major AI surfaces.

AI search appears to be evaluating “trust ecosystems” instead of just link authority.

Curious if others tracking GEO/AEO are seeing similar patterns?

I've been trying to figure out what makes some content get pulled into AI-generated answers while similar content gets ignored.

Things I'm experimenting with:
- Direct Q&A format with clear headers
- Short factual paragraphs with specific data points
- FAQ sections at the end

Has anything specific worked for you? Or have you noticed patterns in the content that does get cited vs what doesn't? Any niche counts — even one real example is more useful than ten blog posts on this topic.

There's so much noise about AI content — Google hates it, Google doesn't care, it works short term but tanks later, etc.

Looking for people who've actually run this experiment properly:
- How many AI-assisted posts did you publish?
- Did you edit/humanize or publish raw?
- What happened to rankings over 3, 6, 12 months?
- Did any penalties hit or was it purely traffic-based decline?

Please mention your niche and rough domain age. That context changes everything.

Not looking for the generic "they're all good for different things" answer.

I want to know what real SEOs and marketers actually reach for daily:
- Keyword research — which AI do you use and why?
- Content briefs and outlines — same question
- Technical SEO audits or schema generation — any AI actually useful here?
- Has any of this replaced paid tools like Ahrefs / Semrush for you?

Share your actual stack. Honest takes over promotional ones please.

Starting a new site in 2026 feels very different to 2022. Old playbooks (churn out articles, get a few backlinks, wait) don't seem to apply the same way.

For anyone who's launched a new site recently:
- How are you using AI in your early content strategy?
- Are you targeting traditional keywords, AI search queries, or both?
- How long before you saw any meaningful traffic?
- What would you do completely differently if starting again today?

Doesn't matter what niche — all experiences useful.

I've read a dozen articles about "optimizing for AI citations" but they're all vague — structured data, E-E-A-T, be authoritative. Not very helpful.

What I'm actually curious about:
- Has anyone verified their site showing up as a citation in ChatGPT or Perplexity?
- What did you do differently that you think caused it?
- Does the type of content matter (how-to vs opinion vs data)?

Real examples only. What platform, what niche, and what change led to it?

GEO keeps coming up everywhere but I'm seeing people use it interchangeably with AEO, LLM SEO, and AI SEO. No one seems to agree on what it actually means in practice.

For those who've looked into it or tried it:
- How do you personally define GEO vs traditional SEO?
- Are you actively optimizing for AI citations or still focused on Google rankings?
- Has anything you've changed actually moved the needle?

Plain English explanations welcome — skipping the vendor fluff.

Some niches seem to be getting hit hard by AI Overviews pushing down organic results. Others seem unaffected or even growing.

If you've seen a change — good or bad — would love to know:
- Which niche / industry?
- Rough % traffic change since AI Overviews expanded?
- Did you change your content strategy in response?
- Are you now appearing IN the AI Overview or being pushed below it?

Any GSC screenshots or data welcome. Trying to build a picture of which sectors are most affected.

I keep seeing conflicting takes some say AI search is cannibalizing organic traffic, others say Google still drives 80%+ of their visits.

Before I run my own comparison, curious if anyone here has actually checked how their site shows up across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews vs traditional SERPs?

Specifically curious about:
- Did your traffic drop after AI Overviews expanded?
- Does your site get cited in ChatGPT / Perplexity for your main keywords?
- What niche are you in? (seems to matter a lot)

Drop your real numbers if you have them. Looking for actual experience, not theory.

Mention your website name in the comments and I will share a report on how your website is fairing wrt competitors and what visibility you have in your industry.