The Problem: Search Has Changed
Traditional search engines showed lists of links. Today, AI-powered search systems like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity generate direct answers. They select which businesses to recommend based on clarity, structure, and trust.
If your business cannot be clearly understood by AI systems, you will be skipped in favour of competitors that are easier to interpret.
What We Do
searchdecides audits how AI systems interpret your business and restructures content, signals, and structure so you become eligible for AI recommendation and selection.
- Clarity Audit - We analyse how AI systems currently understand (or misunderstand) your business
- Structure Correction - We fix technical signals that prevent AI comprehension
- Authority Building - We align your brand information across platforms for consistency
Who This Is For
South African small and medium businesses experiencing declining traffic despite stable rankings. Professional services, consultants, and local businesses competing in AI-influenced search results.
Understanding Modern Search
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation)?
GEO is the practice of optimising content so AI-driven search engines like Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity can understand, trust, and cite your business. Unlike traditional SEO, GEO focuses on clarity, structure, and machine-readability.
What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation)?
AEO is about structuring content to directly answer questions customers ask. Search and AI systems extract answers from trusted sources. If your content is not formatted for direct answers, you will not be selected.
Why Rankings Are Not Enough
A website can rank well in traditional search results but still be invisible to AI systems. Rankings measure position in a list. Visibility measures whether AI can understand, trust, and recommend your business when answering questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does searchdecides actually do?
- searchdecides helps businesses understand how AI systems interpret their website and brand, identifies why they are being skipped or misrepresented, and restructures content and signals so AI engines can clearly understand, trust, and recommend them.
- Why is my website traffic dropping even though my rankings look fine?
- Search has changed. Google and other AI systems now answer questions directly through AI Overviews, creating zero-click searches. If your site is not structured as a trusted source, AI may use your information without sending visitors to your website.
- Is SEO dead?
- SEO is not dead, but keyword-focused SEO alone is no longer sufficient. Search has shifted toward Generative Engine Optimization, where AI systems prioritize clarity, structure, and authority over keyword density.
- How does an AI decide which business to recommend?
- AI systems evaluate structured data, consistency across the web, clarity of explanations, and confidence of answers. Businesses that cannot be clearly summarized are skipped in favor of competitors that are easier to understand.
- Does this work for South African and local businesses?
- Yes. AI systems often struggle with location nuance unless it is made explicit. searchdecides ensures businesses are clearly understood as relevant experts for their city, region, or service area.
- How long does it take to see results?
- Once clarity and structural issues are resolved, AI systems can re-interpret a business relatively quickly. Early visibility changes often occur within 30 to 90 days.
Request a Search Visibility Review
Contact us at review@searchdecides.com to request an assessment of how AI systems currently interpret your business.