A contribution from Sophie Hundertmark

Sophie Hundertmark is an expert in the practical use of artificial intelligence with a focus on chatbots, AI strategies and responsible technology integration. She is a researcher and lecturer at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and is currently writing her dissertation in the field of Conversational AI at the University of Fribourg. As a consultant, she supports companies, administrations and educational institutions in the introduction of effective AI solutions. More about Sophie Hundertmark on LinkedIn.

A CustomGPT was used for linguistic and stylistic creation – as well as for translation. This is based on the GPT-5 language model from OpenAI and was developed by Sophie Hundertmark herself.

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In this article, I would like to present a case study from one of my current customer projects. It is a SaaS provider from the German-speaking world that is investing heavily in the topic of AI visibility.

As this is a confidential project, I cannot give the real name of the company. In order to present the content in a tangible way, I use the fictitious name Hsquare throughout the article. Wherever Hsquare is mentioned, it is therefore this anonymized SaaS provider.

The project clearly shows how important AI visibility has become: More and more customers are obtaining information directly via ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity before making a purchase decision. The question is no longer whether you can be found in Google, but whether you are visible at all in the responses of AI systems. This is precisely where Hsquare. Find out more in the following case study.

Initial situation: Why we need to invest in AI visibility

Hsquare is an established SaaS provider in the contact center sector. The company was well positioned in traditional SEO, but the management realized that more and more customers were no longer just using Google to find information, but also AI systems such as ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Internal tests revealed a clear pattern:

• Hsquare was only mentioned at all in 21% of the prompts tested.
• ChatGPT still delivered the best results with 21 % visibility, Gemini was at 10 % and Perplexity only at 5 % .
• Particularly critical: In comparison situations – i.e. precisely when customers were looking for “provider A vs. provider B” – Hsquare often did not appear at all.

The consequence: Hsquare misses valuable visibility opportunities precisely in the phases in which customers typically make their purchasing decisions.

Analysis of AI visibility

The analysis was carried out on the basis of 30 prompts in 8 categories. These included generic demand prompts, decision support, products & services, employer branding and specific use cases.

Highlights of the analysis

• ChatGPT was the strongest channel: Hsquare appeared here for generic questions.
• The European positioning worked: Hsquare was explicitly named as a relevant provider for questions relating to the EU.
• Initial top ratings (“Very good at ChatGPT”) showed that there was potential.

Lowlights of the analysis

• Hsquare was rarely included in comparison prompts.
• The company was often completely absent when it came to product-related queries (e.g. cloud contact center features).
• The brand claim was not consistently anchored – AIs hardly ever quoted it.
• Perplexity almost completely ignored Hsquare because there were too few neutral third-party sources.

Causes of the visibility gaps

The in-depth root cause analysis revealed three central problems:

1. Lack of external, trustworthy sources
   Platforms such as G2 or Capterra lacked independent reviews and rankings that listed Hsquare in the right categories. However, these platforms are an important comparison platform for software providers.
2. Unclear product taxonomy
   Customers search for terms such as “cloud contact center for SMEs”. However, Hsquare used its own formulations, which AIs were less able to categorize.
3. Missing structured data
   Schema.org markups, Wikidata entries or FAQ formats were not consistently available, making it more difficult for AIs to process the content.

Measures to improve AI visibility

Together with Hsquare, I developed a multi-stage strategy with the following measures.

1. building thematic authority

• Creation of content hubs on topics such as “Contact Center …” or “Sales Automation”.
• A pillar page (3,000-4,000 words) plus several cluster articles with practical examples.
• Goal: AIs recognize Hsquare as an authority in customer service automation.

2 Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

• Each product page received an FAQ offensive with 10-15 clear, quotable answers.
• Example: “For which company sizes is the Hsquare Agent suitable?”
• Short, concise answers make it easier for AIs to integrate them into their models.

3. external validation

• Expansion of the profiles on G2, Capterra and Gartner Peer Insights with regular new reviews.
• Placement of guest articles in specialist media.
• Active participation in forums and Q&A communities such as Reddit or Quora.

4. technical optimization

• Introduction of an entity lexicon for consistent naming of all products.
• Expansion of Schema.org markups and FAQ blocks.
• Updating Wikidata/Wikipedia entries.

Learnings: What we take away from the case study

The case study by Hsquare shows very clearly: AI visibility is the new SEO factor.
It is no longer enough to rank well on Google – companies must ensure that their brand and products are also present in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

The key success factors in this use case are:

• Clear product taxonomy and structured content.
• External validation through reviews, specialist articles and neutral sources.
• Content hubs as proof of expertise and depth.
• A consistent FAQ and comparison strategy that AIs can utilize directly.

If you work in a SaaS or tech environment, you may be able to apply some of these measures, such as platform rankings, to your business.

All in all, I recommend that every company start thinking about AI visibility now at the latest. The competition never sleeps – and if you don’t appear in ChatGPT today, you will lose market share tomorrow.

You can start with the as-is analysis and create an AI visibility report, for example.

You can then use the AI visibility action plan to create your own individual roadmap.

Any further questions?

The topic appeals to you, but you still have more questions? Then get in touch with me via WhatsApp memo or e-mail.