At a glance
We started at zero in AI answers to buyer questions. Five weeks in, AI engines name us, rank us first in some answers and cite our pages.
| What we measure | Result |
|---|---|
| Tracking started | 28 Sep 2026 |
| Buyer prompts tracked daily | 45, across 6 topics (US) |
| AI engines | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity |
| Times ranked #1 in an unbranded answer | 7 (6 of them in the latest week) |
| serpforge.io pages cited in unbranded answers | 5 |
| Visits from AI assistants, 1–29 Oct | 42 (38 from ChatGPT) |
| Answers that cover us when buyers ask about SERP Forge by name | 100%, on all 4 engines |
The challenge: invisible in AI answers
In our first tracked week (from 28 Sep 2026), SERP Forge appeared in 0 of 1,428 AI answers to unbranded buyer questions.
Buyers were asking ChatGPT and Google things like “best SaaS link building agencies” and “best SaaS SEO agencies for B2B startups”. Our competitors were in those answers. We weren’t.
| Agency | Share of unbranded AI answers that name it (28 Sep – 30 Oct) |
|---|---|
| Omniscient Digital | 28% |
| Skale | 24% |
| Siege Media | 24% |
| Directive Consulting | 23% |
| SERP Forge | 0.7% |
The reason was clear in the sources. AI engines lean on “best agencies” listicles. We found 12 listicles that AI cited 139+ times each. Everyone names 3+ competitors. None named SERP Forge.
Our approach: the same playbook we run for clients
We treat SERP Forge like a client. Same steps, same tools, same reporting.
- Map the buyer prompts. We wrote 45 questions real SaaS buyers ask AI, across 6 topics: AI SEO, SaaS SEO, SaaS link building, SaaS marketing agency, SaaS content marketing and performance marketing. All tracked from the US.
- Benchmark the field. We track 26 competitor agencies in the same answers, so every number has context.
- Find the sources AI trusts. We list the pages each engine retrieves and cites: listicles, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, Clutch.
- Make our own pages easy to cite. Clear comparison pages, plain pricing and FAQ answers that AI can lift in one line.
- Earn mentions on third-party pages. We pitch the listicles AI already cites, with one consistent description of SERP Forge.
- Track, learn, repeat. Prompts run daily. We review weekly and report every two weeks.
How we track AI visibility in real time
We use Peec AI. It runs all 45 prompts every day on each engine and saves every answer, so we see exactly what buyers see.
| Metric | What it tells us |
|---|---|
| Visibility | % of AI answers that name SERP Forge |
| Share of voice | Our share of all agency mentions |
| Win rate | % of answers where we are named first |
| Position | Where we sit in the list when named |
| Sentiment | How positively AI describes us (0–100) |
| Cited pages | Which of our pages, and which third-party pages, AI uses as sources |
| AI referral visits | Visits from ChatGPT, Gemini and others, from GA4 |
We split branded and unbranded prompts. A prompt like “Is SERP Forge a good agency?” always names us, so it inflates the score. The dashboard below counts all 45 prompts: 6% visibility and average position #1.5 (1–30 Oct). Unbranded only, visibility is 0.9% and average position is #4.3. We report the honest number, and we do the same for clients.
Peec AI weekly visibility trend and brand ranking, all 45 tracked prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity (US), 1–30 Oct 2026. Includes 3 prompts that name SERP Forge directly.
What the data showed us
Reading the actual answers, not just the scores, showed us what to fix.
A real ChatGPT answer, 30 Oct 2026. Prompt: “Which SaaS link building agencies offer no monthly retainer or long-term contract?”
- ChatGPT listed SERP Forge as “Best for: predictable per-link costs”, at about $160 per link.
- But it took that from a third-party comparison page, not from our site. It told the reader it could not verify the price on our own pricing page.
So the win was real, but fragile. Our fix list: put pricing in plain text AI can read, and make our domain and brand facts the same everywhere.
Tone differs by engine. On prompts about SERP Forge by name, ChatGPT and Google score us 56–64 for sentiment. Perplexity scores two of three prompts 47–49. Next, we check which sources Perplexity pulls for those answers.
Early results after 5 weeks
SERP Forge went from no unbranded AI mentions to 20 a week, and was ranked first 6 times in the latest week. It is a start: the leading agency is named in 28% of answers.
Where AI recommends us today (unbranded prompts):
| Buyer prompt | Answers naming SERP Forge |
|---|---|
| Which SaaS link building agencies offer no monthly retainer or long-term contract? | 7 of 18 (39%) |
| Which link building agency offers flat per-link pricing? | 3 of 9 (33%) |
| Best SaaS link building agencies in 2026 | 3 of 18 (17%) |
| Best SaaS marketing agencies for B2B startups | 4 of 91 (4%) |
| Top B2B SaaS marketing agencies for enterprise software companies | 4 of 90 (4%) |
Our pages AI now cites: our 15 Best SaaS Link Building Agencies list (7 citations), the SaaS link building service page (3), our Top 15 SaaS SEO Agencies list (2), FAQs (2) and the link building agency page (1). In the first two weeks, AI cited none of our pages in these answers.
Visits from AI assistants: 42 in October (1–29 Oct), up from 1 in September. 38 came from ChatGPT.
What’s next
Our next target is the topic this page is about: we are not yet named in unbranded AI SEO answers.
- Get listed in the 12 high-citation listicles that skip us, starting with AI SEO and SaaS SEO lists
- Put pricing and service facts in plain, quotable text on serpforge.io
- Review Perplexity’s sources for our branded answers
- Update this case study every month (next: 30 Nov 2026)
Want the same view of your brand? We’ll show you which buyer prompts you to name your competitors and not you. Book a free AI SEO strategy call.
