SEO earns a ranking in a list of ten links. AI search optimization earns a citation when ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI answer picks the few sources it trusts. The work overlaps, including structured data, local signals and content that answers questions, but the target is different. A site can rank fine on Google while being invisible in AI answers. We do both, and we measure both.
The overlap between top Google results and the sources AI answers cite is surprisingly small, so we treat them as two targets.
Both start from the same groundwork: a site Google can read cleanly, a Google Business Profile and citations that agree, and pages that answer the question someone asked. AI search adds Bing, because ChatGPT’s live search runs on Bing’s index. It also rewards answers direct enough for a machine to lift and attribute.
We build once and measure in both places. As of August 26, 2026, True Northwest, a brand-new Spokane real estate site, held an average Google position of 9.8 and had earned 8,270 AI citations.
Your Snapshot scores both sides.