the shift from CTR to "citation breadth" is the right frame but man does it create a measurement headache.
with traditional SEO you had clear signals -- rankings, clicks, conversions. now you need to track how many queries you're being cited for across an entire topic cluster, and whether that's expanding or contracting over time.
the branded search lift is probably the clearest indicator that visibility work is paying off. if people start searching for "[topic] + your brand" more often, the AI exposure is working even without direct clicks.
Yes, it is difficult to accept that the bottom of funnel tracking has become our only reliable measurement.
As for tracking AI queries… that’s just a nightmare to wrap the noodle around: how many do you track? What variation of search is worth tracking? No matter what, we will never know for sure how we’re showing up.
As a result, I am just going to focus massively on authority and ensuring my client’s sites are absolute crack for AIs :-P
This article comes at the perfect time; it's a smart follow-up to your earlier piece, and I'm cautiously optimistic about this 'vote of confidence' perpective.
Much obliged! And if we follow the logic of search from inception to AI, the vote of confidence concept seems sound. But yeah… cautious optimism is a smart position to take. Cheers!
the shift from CTR to "citation breadth" is the right frame but man does it create a measurement headache.
with traditional SEO you had clear signals -- rankings, clicks, conversions. now you need to track how many queries you're being cited for across an entire topic cluster, and whether that's expanding or contracting over time.
the branded search lift is probably the clearest indicator that visibility work is paying off. if people start searching for "[topic] + your brand" more often, the AI exposure is working even without direct clicks.
Yes, it is difficult to accept that the bottom of funnel tracking has become our only reliable measurement.
As for tracking AI queries… that’s just a nightmare to wrap the noodle around: how many do you track? What variation of search is worth tracking? No matter what, we will never know for sure how we’re showing up.
As a result, I am just going to focus massively on authority and ensuring my client’s sites are absolute crack for AIs :-P
Thanks for your comment!
Bottom of funnel really helps me as well
Do you mean when the buyer decides to dig deeper and go to your site? I agree, that's the best end result - assuming the site is ready to convert!
This article comes at the perfect time; it's a smart follow-up to your earlier piece, and I'm cautiously optimistic about this 'vote of confidence' perpective.
Much obliged! And if we follow the logic of search from inception to AI, the vote of confidence concept seems sound. But yeah… cautious optimism is a smart position to take. Cheers!