Client Requirements
The old site was slow, thin and invisible: an average Google position around 52, meaning page six for most searches. When homeowners asked an AI tool for a handyman or painter nearby, the company was not part of the answer.
Industry: Home services (handyman, painting, cleaning). The client is not named.
1Digital® Solution
A local home services company rebuilt on WorkspaceCMS and now shows up in more than half of the AI answers about its trade.
- Rebuilt the site on WorkspaceCMS: fast pages, a page for every service and service area, and clean structured data.
- Published answer-first content for the questions homeowners actually ask, and kept it fresh every month.
- Tracked the company against five local competitors in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews with Found in AI, and closed the gaps it found.
The results
52 → 19 average Google position, Jun-Aug 2025 vs Sep-Nov 2026.
- 3x search impressions, Oct 2025 vs Oct 2026 (1,909 to 5,747)
- 55% of tracked AI answers cite the company's own site
- 12 of 22 Perplexity answers cite it as a source
- #2 of 6 local brands named in AI answers
Average Google position moved from about 52 to about 19 and impressions tripled year over year. AI tools now cite the company's own pages in 55% of tracked answers, and Perplexity cites it in 12 of 22.
Timeline
- Mid 2025: Average Google position around 52: page six for most searches.
- Mar 2026: Into the low 20s for the first time.
- Sep 2026: Best month on record: average position 14.9.
- Oct 2026: 5,747 search impressions, three times October 2025.
- Oct 2026: Found in AI tracking begins. Cited in 55% of answers in the first full week.
AI tools, one by one (week of Oct 26, 2026)
- ChatGPT: named in 5%, cited in 14%
- Claude: named in 23%, cited in 32%
- Perplexity: named in 32%, cited in 55%
- Gemini: named in 27%, cited in 23%
- Google AI Overviews: named in 6%, cited in 13%
- All five tools: named in 45%, cited in 55%
Google figures: Search Console, May 2025 to Nov 2026. AI figures: Found in AI tracking since Oct 23, 2026. All figures are real and rounded, never adjusted. Measured with Found in AI by 1Digital.
SEO, AEO and GEO together
Three ways to be found, one strategy
SEO earns rankings in search results. AEO shapes content so it becomes the direct answer. GEO gets you cited when AI assistants write their own replies. They build on each other, and the same strong pages tend to win in all three.
- ›SEO builds the rankings and authority
- ›AEO turns pages into direct answers
- ›GEO earns citations in AI replies