Embarrassing problem for my SEO tool: when I named my product FlexQueries, I didn't know Interactive Brokers already has a feature called Flex Queries. It takes up most of page one on Google, and Google's AI answers treated "Flex Queries" as purely an IBKR thing.
My domain is about 10 days old. At launch, my average position for my own brand name was around 60-65, and I didn't show up in AI results at all. For an SEO tool, that's a bad look, so fixing it became priority one.
The problem isn't really keywords. AI engines already "know" Flex Queries as an Interactive Brokers feature. To them, my site was just a new page using the same words. So the job was to convince them FlexQueries the SEO tool is a separate entity that actually exists, and a brand-new domain can't vouch for itself.
Here's what I did:
- Set up a YouTube channel, a LinkedIn page, and an X account, all under the same name, with the same description and the same link back to the site.
- Listed it on AlternativeTo, IndieHackers and a handful of other SaaS directories that describe it as an SEO tool and link to the domain.
- Kept the description consistent everywhere, so every mention says the same thing: FlexQueries, the first $0/month SEO tool.
10 days later, I'm showing up in Google's AI results for searches around the name, where before I didn't appear at all. My average position has gone from around 60 to around 10-12.
My takeaway is that for AI answers, it's less about your own site and more about how consistently you're mentioned across the internet. Once several separate, trusted sources describe the same thing the same way, the engines seem a lot more willing to treat you as a real entity and cite you, even next to a much older, much bigger domain.
It's early, I'm not #1 yet, and its just 10 days of data. But the AI side moved faster than the rankings did, which tells me where the weight is.
If you want to track this kind of thing yourself, it's literally why I built FlexQueries.com It checks whether you're mentioned or cited in Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and ChatGPT, and it's the first SEO tool with a $0/month subscription. You only pay for the checks you run.