Your next customer is asking AI, not a search bar.
Roughly two thirds of Google searches now end without a click, and 900 million people a week are asking ChatGPT what to buy, who to hire and where to go. Corkboard Concepts makes sure your business shows up in those answers, and runs the paid placements that sit underneath them.
What changed
Search did not disappear. It moved.
For twenty years the job was simple: rank on Google, earn the click. That job is still real, but it is now only part of the picture.
Google’s AI Overviews appear on more than one in five searches, and when they do, clicks to the pages below fall by close to 60%. Google AI Mode passed a billion monthly users in 2026. Meanwhile ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude have become the first stop for a growing share of buying research.
Here is the part most businesses miss. Being left out of an AI answer does not look like a ranking drop. Your Google rankings can hold steady while your pipeline quietly thins, because the customer built their shortlist somewhere you were never measuring.
What we do
Three ways we work the AI channel
Earn the mention, buy the placement, and make the whole site readable to the machines doing the recommending.
GEO & AEO
Generative and Answer Engine Optimization. Structure your site, content and data so AI tools can read, trust and name your business in the answer.
ChatGPT Ads
Paid placements inside ChatGPT through OpenAI’s Ads Manager Beta. Campaign build, creative, conversion tracking and ongoing optimization.
AI Optimization
Schema, feeds, crawler access and platform automation inputs, plus measurement built for a channel that mostly hides itself in branded search.
GEO & AEO
Get recommended, not just ranked
AI tools do not hand back ten links. They generate an answer and name a handful of businesses. Getting named is a discipline of its own, and it is measurable.
- Structured data and schema so crawlers get explicit, machine-readable answers about who you are, what you sell and where you operate
- Crawler access verified for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended, because a robots.txt line written in 2021 can lock you out of the whole channel
- Answer-first content built around the questions customers actually ask an assistant, not the keywords a tool spat out
- Entity consistency across your site, Google Business Profile, citations and third-party listings, so the models resolve you to one business
- Prompt-level visibility tracking so you know which prompts surface you, which surface a competitor, and what moved month over month
GEO builds on SEO, it does not replace it. The full technical and local search scope lives on our SEO and GEO services page.
Paid media
ChatGPT Ads, run by a team that has been in the beta
OpenAI began testing ads inside ChatGPT in the US on February 9, 2026. On May 5 it opened a self-serve Ads Manager in beta, added cost-per-click bidding alongside the original CPM model, and shipped a Conversions API and measurement pixel. The channel went from a closed pilot with a six-figure commitment to something a local business can realistically test, in about three months.
- Answers stay independent. Ads run on systems separate from the chat model. Advertisers cannot shape or rank what ChatGPT says, and receive only aggregated performance data. No conversation contents, no memories
- Account setup and verification handled end to end, including the review queue and billing profile
- Campaign and ad group architecture built for a system where OpenAI controls delivery, so your setup, creative and usefulness signals are the levers that matter
- Conversion tracking wired properly through the pixel and Conversions API, so leads and sales tie back to the campaign
One structural note: OpenAI requires the advertiser account to be created by the business itself, then the agency is invited in as a user. We walk you through that first step and take it from there.
AI optimization
Make your business legible to machines
Most sites were built for people reading a screen. AI systems read differently, and when they cannot parse a site, they skip it. Adobe found AI referrals to US retail sites growing 393% year over year in Q1 2026 while a large share of those same retailers still were not structured for machines to read. Growing demand, flat supply of readable sites.
- Site and data readiness. Schema across products, services, locations and FAQs. Clean heading structure and crawl paths. Product and inventory feeds formatted so assistants can use them. Rendering fixed, because a site that needs JavaScript to show its content often shows a crawler nothing
- AI inside the ad platforms. Performance Max, Advantage+ and Demand Gen already hand most decisions to a model. Results come from the inputs: asset quality, audience signals, conversion values and exclusions, managed deliberately
- Measurement for a channel that hides itself. Most AI influence never shows up as a referral. Someone reads a recommendation in ChatGPT, then types your brand into Google. In GA4 that is branded organic. We separate branded search lift, AI referral sessions and assisted conversions
How we work
Four steps, no mystery
Why Corkboard Concepts
A new channel, handled by people who have run the old ones
Awards & certifications
Contact
Find out where you stand in AI search
We will run your category’s buying prompts across the major AI assistants, show you where you appear and where you do not, and walk you through what it would take to change that. No cost, no commitment.
Get a custom AI marketing plan today by speaking with one of our specialists. For more information, see our privacy policy.
AI marketing agency services
Corkboard Concepts is a full service marketing agency headquartered in Pittsburgh, working with more than 300 clients across the United States. Our AI marketing practice covers the three places AI now touches demand generation: earning visibility inside AI-generated answers through GEO and AEO, buying paid placements inside AI assistants through OpenAI’s ChatGPT Ads, and optimizing the site, feeds and campaign inputs that both of those depend on.
AI search is not a replacement for search engine optimization. The models are pulling from well-structured, authoritative pages, which means the technical foundation that earns Google rankings is the same foundation that earns AI citations. If you want the full technical, local and content scope, see our SEO and GEO services. If you want the AI-specific layer on top of it, that is this page.
Built for businesses that need proof, not predictions
Every number on this page is sourced and dated, and we report the same way. AI referral volume is still a small share of total traffic for most businesses, and any agency telling you otherwise is overselling. What the data does show is quality: Adobe measured AI-referred traffic converting 42% better than traditional channels in March 2026, reversing a 38% deficit a year earlier. It is a small channel with strong economics and a steep growth curve, and the cost of being early is low.
Schedule an AI marketing consultation
Contact Corkboard Concepts for a free AI visibility audit. We will test your category’s buying prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode, audit your site’s machine readability, and give you functional recommendations you can act on whether or not you work with us.
AI Marketing FAQs
SEO is about ranking in a list of results. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) are about being understood, trusted and named inside an AI-generated answer. Most of the industry uses the two terms interchangeably. They overlap heavily with SEO and depend on the same technical foundation, but add a layer of structure, clarity and consistency built for how models read.
In raw volume, AI referrals are still a small share of most sites’ total traffic. In quality, they are the strongest thing in the mix. Adobe measured AI-referred traffic converting 42% better than traditional channels as of March 2026 and 54% better in May 2026, with visitors spending more time on site. It is a small channel with excellent economics and a steep growth curve.
You test it, systematically and repeatedly, because answers vary by phrasing, by platform and over time. One lucky prompt is not data. Our audit runs a set of category and location prompts across the major assistants and gives you a baseline you can track month over month.
The original invite-only pilot required a commitment in the $50,000 to $200,000 range. The self-serve Ads Manager beta removed that floor, so you set your own budget, bids and pacing on a CPM or CPC basis. We will recommend a test budget based on your category and what we see in the auction.
No. OpenAI keeps ads on systems entirely separate from the chat model, and advertisers cannot influence answers. That is exactly why GEO and paid media work as a pair. One earns the mention, the other buys the placement beneath it.
No, and doing so would hurt you. AI models pull from the same well-structured, authoritative pages that rank in traditional search, so the foundation is shared. See our SEO and GEO services for the full scope.
Yes. We are headquartered in Pittsburgh with a second office in Dallas, and work with more than 300 clients across the US. AI visibility work is not location dependent, though local SEO and Google Business Profile optimization absolutely are, and we handle those too.