The Midnight Garden
My study on how AI decides who to recommend, plus the guides I wrote from it. Free to read.
The study
How five AI models recommend local businesses. 10,800 queries across 18 cities, pre-registered on the Open Science Framework, published in full.
For business owners who want AI search tools to say their name. Start with the first one.
What answer engine optimization is, and how a business gets named by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI answers.
What each AI platform looks at before it names a source.
Google Business Profile, reviews, local schema and consistent listings.
Why AI needs to know exactly who you are before it will name you.
What to add when good old SEO stops being enough.
A checklist to audit your own visibility, in priority order.
What to measure when the old SEO numbers don't show AI.
Want to know what AI says about your business right now? Run the free Five-Answer Audit.