Top of Search

Top of Search AI visibility for local businesses. Get cited by AI, not just found. AEO, local SEO, and Fractional CMO. Wilmington, NC.

I know price transparency for business owners can be a hot topic. Here’s what you need to think about for AI. And a free...
09/24/2026

I know price transparency for business owners can be a hot topic. Here’s what you need to think about for AI. And a free tip to Wilmington vets 🦮🐩🐕‍🦺🐕🐈🐈‍⬛

🔎 Top of Search
AI Visibility for local businesses
Based in Wilmington, NC, working nationwide

Ran five prompts this week asking for a Wilmington wedding photographer. This week’s lesson is on recognition vs recomme...
08/27/2026

Ran five prompts this week asking for a Wilmington wedding photographer.

This week’s lesson is on recognition vs recommendation. It’s kind of like traffic vs conversions. Both meaningful. Only one creates revenue.

Recognition is relatively easy right now. It simply comes from sitting in the sources the engines are citing, which for this category means WeddingWire and The Knot.

Recommendation comes from having a page that answers the deeper question, the venue, the season, the specialty.

When you are a business owner and thinking about visibility in AI, just like we used to think of rankings in traditional search, it all comes back to revenue.

So, in this week’s run, one prompt got really specific calling out Airlie Gardens and next spring. And, if I were a wedding photographer, this is the one I’d be focused on.

Most local businesses I speak to are trying to do the first one and then wonder why they never get the call.

New issue of Cited is out today. Subscribe, link in bio.

In this week’s cited issue, I asked “what’s the best auto shop in Wilmington, North Carolina?” The answers included nine...
08/13/2026

In this week’s cited issue, I asked “what’s the best auto shop in Wilmington, North Carolina?” The answers included nine different shops. No shop secured the top position across the engines. Then, I changed the prompt and named the car. All 3 said Euro-Tek.

This type of prompt testing in AI highlights how important your website’s messaging is to your bottom line. The business with the most reviews did not win. Euro-Tek was cited because they’ve built messaging that speaks to their technicians capabilities, certifications, years of experience working with Land Rover.

If you know the customer you are trying to reach, the one you’re exceptionally qualifed to service, speak directly to them on your website.

🔎Top of Search
AI Visibility for local businesses
Based in Wilmington, NC, working nationwide

08/11/2026

Did you even know your business had a new front door? 🚪Doesn’t matter if you’ve found this completely clueless or totally aware, today is the day to run those prompts. And I’ve made it easy, just click the Prompt Set Generator from the link in my bio to find out where you stand.

🔎 Top of Search
AI Visibility for local businesses
Based in Wilmington, NC, working nationwide

Hello august, Hello cake. We are celebrating birthdays on the team this week (HBD olivia corey 🥳) so cue the confetti an...
08/06/2026

Hello august, Hello cake. We are celebrating birthdays on the team this week (HBD olivia corey 🥳) so cue the confetti and let’s find out who gets cited for “same day birthday cakes, Wilmington NC”. And, no i’m not this last minute but I was curious. 🤨

One Belle Bakery (my absolute favorite in this town) landed first place in Perplexity, third in ChatGPT, and in Gemini it showed up as the example of what not to do.

Gemini’s source for disqualifying the most creative shop in town was One Belle’s own website. Tastings, consultations, wedding cake design. Exactly right for the customer they want. Exactly wrong for the one who needs a cake by 5pm.

Apple Annie’s the lowest rated of the four at 4.3 instead has a line on its own site saying it will personalize a cake while you wait, and posted hours running to 7pm six days a week.

The business stars didn’t decide this one. That sentence did. So, if you like to do things last minute, you know where to go! And, if you’re a business and offer something “same day” say it (!!) so AI can recommend you.

Full breakdown in this week’s Cited. Link in bio.

Search “personal trainer in Wilmington” and Without Limits does not appear. 10 other businesses do.But…if you add eight ...
07/30/2026

Search “personal trainer in Wilmington” and Without Limits does not appear. 10 other businesses do.

But…if you add eight words to the prompt “that can help me train for a marathon”.

BINGO. Now, Without Limits is first on all three.

Here’s the deal. A generic search like “personal trainer in Wilmington” has the crazy volume. We’ve got a lot of options. So, no surprise, this prompt is likely where you’ll be the eighth name in a list of ten.

What’s more? The person actually prompting AI and reading has learned NOTHING about why they would pick you.

The specific search is the one where somebody already knows what they want and is only looking for who does it. That is the one that generates revenue.

You already show up somewhere. The question is whether you show up on the question a customer asks right before they buy.

Full breakdown in this week’s Cited.

🔗Link in bio.

07/28/2026

my shortlist of AI tools i pay for that i wouldn’t trade right now.

claude, if you’ve already scheduled a task with claude. enough said. it’s the admin assistant i wouldn’t have hired for but really needed.

granola, i gotta say. i used it right after it came out but didn’t let it become a part of my routine until recently. now, i can’t live without it. sync it with todoist. game over.

wispr, sure you’ve been doing voice to text but this is way more than voice to text. it’s can understand what you are saying even when you’re talking in circles.

profound, ai tracking is a brand-new software category and this company is paving the way. my strategy for clients is rooted in the AI directional data it provides.

chatgpt, it’s like the paper manuals you received for years, never read, couldn’t locate when you needed, but a million times easier to actually understand. if you have a problem, chat is going to help you solve it.

what tools are you using that I am missing?

If your business has invested dollars and time into SEO and brand for years and want to become the AI answer, you are li...
07/24/2026

If your business has invested dollars and time into SEO and brand for years and want to become the AI answer, you are likely steps ahead of your market competitors.

AI visibility, AEO, and local SEO will reward the SEO and brand discipline you’ve built.

If you’re starting from ground zero, there’s hope for you too.

We are still very much in the early days of AI search and a strategic focus NOW can also help you jump ahead of those established businesses in your space that have yet to pay attention to the fact that the way your customers find you has changed.

Want to understand the work you need to do? Request an audit and let’s find out where you stand.

Top of Search
AI visibility for local businesses
Based in Wilmington, NC, working nationwide

🔎 I asked Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity. “Best facials for acne-prone skin in Wilmington NC.” Around ten local businesses ...
07/23/2026

🔎 I asked Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity. “Best facials for acne-prone skin in Wilmington NC.” Around ten local businesses got named across the three.

Only one made every list: BOUQ Skin.

Here’s what you need to know. The platforms didn’t discover BOUQ. They quoted her. BOUQ’s own positioning is repeated back in AI engines.

And, AI can only recommend you as specifically as you describe yourself. Don’t make the machine guess. Speak to your specialty.

Top of Search
AI visibility for local businesses
Based in Wilmington, NC, working nationwide
Subscribe to Cited 🔗 in bio

I asked AI engine who gets the bride? and the results are clear. No one shows up currently in all 3 engines. So, in my v...
07/16/2026

I asked AI engine who gets the bride? and the results are clear. No one shows up currently in all 3 engines. So, in my view, it’s still unclaimed. But, if you look at what each engines are pulling from you can discover your strategy to own this query.

💍 Perplexity runs on the aggregator. Get on WeddingWire.

💍 ChatGPT reads your website. Build full sentences that say bridal, your specialty and your location.

💍 Gemini rewards a named style. Soft glam is what you do. Name it.

And for everyone else, this prompt is the evidence to a question I get all.the.time. does it pay to niche into the type of service you do?

yes, most definitely yes.

Top of Search
AI visibility for local businesses
Based in Wilmington, NC, working nationwide
Subscribe to Cited 🔗 in bio

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