AI is burying company web sites in search results, but Otterly.AI thinks it can help

Many websites noticed their natural site visitors decline in 2024, in massive half as a result of rise of AI-generated search outcomes. Many queries not result in click-throughs, and even when customers click on, it’s arduous for firms to get extra context on searches made inside apps like ChatGPT or Perplexity.

The reply to this drawback is typically referred to as generative engine optimization, or GEO, in a nod to search engine marketing. “Some name it AI search visibility optimization, which is a bit longer, however I consider is a little more correct,” mentioned Otterly.AI CEO Thomas Peham (on the proper within the picture above).

Like New York-based competitor Profound, the Austrian startup builds dashboards to assist firms and advert companies monitor and optimize their presence in AI outcomes. However whereas Profound remains to be in closed beta, Otterly is exiting stealth mode after passing the 1,000-user milestone, Peham advised TechCrunch completely.

You will have heard of Otterly earlier than: It launched on Product Hunt earlier this yr to some success. Then, Google shook every part up.

“To be trustworthy, the fact was we rebuilt the product from scratch after Google launched AI Overviews in Might,” Peham mentioned.

AI Overviews are Google’s implementation of AI-powered results, usually leading to so-called zero-click searches the place customers by no means transcend the search engine. 

As AI Overviews begins rolling out globally, firms who relied on natural search site visitors are feeling the sting. Peham gave the instance of a SaaS enterprise that noticed its natural search presence decline within the U.S, solely to appreciate via Otterly that Google confirmed AI Overviews search outcomes for half of its search engine marketing key phrases.

The following query is the best way to make this data actionable, particularly when LLMs are sometimes described as a black field. That’s one motive why Otterly plans so as to add a suggestion engine, and within the meantime, why it went from month-to-month to weekly monitoring — so advertising groups can conduct experiments to optimize their content material and rapidly see what is perhaps working or not. 

Whereas this tinkering is partially akin to search engine marketing, clicks are much less of a spotlight. “I believe calling it AI search visibility optimization actually highlights the side that we as advertising groups additionally want to consider our model place, our model visibility,” Peham mentioned.

Peham himself spent most of his profession in advertising. A former VP of selling at CMS company Storyblok, he began Otterly to scratch his personal itch and perceive how ChatGPT was impacting search from a model perspective.

Finally, he teamed up with two co-founders, Josef Trauner (within the center within the picture above) and Klaus M. Schremser (on the left), who’re respectively the previous CEO and head of progress at Usersnap, a consumer suggestions platform they sold to saas.group in 2023.

Having two co-founders helps all of them cut up duties, with Schremser centered on operations and product, and Trauner on technical elements. It doesn’t damage both that the pair had an exit collectively. His incubator, GroWTF, additionally supported Otterly, however the startup gained’t search exterior funding, Peham mentioned.

As an alternative, he mentioned Otterly plans to maintain on rising with its buyer base, with the ambition to develop into what Semrush or Ahrefs are for search engine marketing, however within the AI search area.

There’s at all times a threat that these firms could need to develop their scope and develop into direct rivals, however Otterly is hoping they will work collectively, and plans to announce particulars of a partnership with Semrush subsequent month, Peham mentioned.