Questions we get. Answers you can use.

01 · AI search and GEO

AI search and GEO

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

GEO is the work of getting your brand cited inside AI answers from ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Claude. Where SEO optimizes for rankings, GEO optimizes for being the source the model quotes.

Why does AI search matter for my business?

A growing share of searches now end in an AI answer instead of a click. If the models do not cite you, you are invisible at the exact moment someone decides who to trust.

How do I find out if ChatGPT recommends my business?

Ask it the questions your customers ask, in plain language. For a measured read, our AI Mention Report benchmarks where you are cited, where competitors beat you, and what to fix first.

Can you guarantee my brand will appear in AI answers?

No, and you should walk away from anyone who promises it. What we can do is move the inputs models rely on: structure, authority, reviews, and consistent facts about your business across the web.

What is the AI Mention Report?

A dated, sourced reading of where your brand stands in AI answers and search: who gets cited, where you do not, and a prioritized plan ranked by impact. It is how most clients start with us.

What is the difference between SEO and GEO?

SEO earns rankings; GEO earns citations. They share the same foundation of speed, structure, and authority, but GEO adds machine-readable facts, quotable prose, and presence in the sources models trust.

Do Google AI Overviews reduce my website traffic?

When an AI Overview appears, clicks to the traditional results below it drop sharply. That traffic reroutes to whoever the answer cites, which is why being in the answer now matters more than ranking near it.

What is AEO, or answer engine optimization?

A different name for the same goal as GEO: making your brand the answer engines give. Whatever the acronym, the work is structure, authority, and trust signals.

Which AI engines should I care about?

In the accounts we measure, ChatGPT tends to lead AI referrals, with Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot splitting the rest. The mix moves month to month, so we benchmark rather than guess.

Are visitors who come from AI answers actually valuable?

In many accounts, AI-referred visitors arrive more informed because they have already compared options before clicking. Fewer clicks, but often better-qualified ones.

How long does it take to show up in AI answers?

Foundational fixes can register in weeks; authority builds over months. We sequence the plan by impact so the fastest wins come first.

Does schema markup help with AI search?

Yes. Structured data hands models unambiguous facts about who you are, what you do, and where, which is exactly what they need to cite you confidently.

What is llms.txt?

A plain-text file that gives AI crawlers a guided summary of your site. It is a small signal, but small signals stack, and we include it in the discoverability foundation we build.

Should I block AI crawlers from my website?

If you sell something, usually not. Being read is the prerequisite to being cited, and being cited is where the customers are going.

How do you measure AI visibility?

We benchmark the questions that matter in your category across the major engines on a dated cadence, so movement is provable rather than anecdotal. That is the discipline behind the AI Mention Report.

02 · SEO

SEO

Do you do SEO?

Yes. SEO is one of the discoverability surfaces we manage, alongside AI answers, maps, and reviews. We treat it as a foundation for being cited, not just ranked.

What does an SEO audit from Mention include?

Technical health, site speed, structure, content quality, authority signals, and how legible your site is to both search engines and the AI models reading them. It ends in a prioritized plan, not a 90-page PDF nobody reads.

How long does SEO take to work?

Technical fixes can move things in weeks; competitive rankings and authority take months. Anyone quoting a guaranteed timeline is selling you weather.

Is SEO dead now that AI answers exist?

No, it changed jobs. The same foundation that earns rankings is what AI models read when they decide whom to cite. Skipping SEO now means losing both surfaces at once.

What is the difference between SEO and local SEO?

SEO earns visibility for what you do; local SEO earns it for where you are. If customers visit, call, or book you locally, the map results often matter more than the classic ten blue links.

Do you write SEO content?

We build and edit content with a job to do: pages that answer real questions in quotable prose. We do not bulk-publish filler, because models and people both skip it.

What is technical SEO?

The plumbing: crawlability, speed, structured data, canonical URLs, sitemaps, and clean markup. Unsexy, high leverage, and where most sites quietly leak visibility.

Do keywords still matter?

The intent behind them does. We optimize for the questions customers actually ask, which is also how AI engines organize their answers.

Do backlinks still matter?

Authority still matters, and links remain one signal of it. We pursue authority you would want anyway, like coverage, citations, and partnerships, not link schemes.

Why did my website traffic drop?

Common causes: an algorithm update, a technical regression, lost rankings to a competitor, or AI answers absorbing clicks you used to get. The fix starts with diagnosing which one, and that is audit work we do.

Do you work with Google Search Console and Analytics?

Yes. We work from your real data, set up measurement correctly if it is not, and report in plain language. Your accounts stay yours.

Is SEO a one-time fix or ongoing work?

The foundation is a project; staying competitive is a practice. We are honest about which parts of your situation are which.

03 · Paid media and advertising

Paid media and advertising

What advertising platforms do you run?

Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google, YouTube, TikTok, programmatic display, and connected TV. The mix follows the strategy, not the other way around.

What is a good ROAS?

It depends on your margins and goal, which is why we set the target before we spend. Our documented peak is a 60:1 campaign return for a national brand against a 5:1 goal, and we are happy to show how the measurement worked.

What is the minimum budget to advertise?

Enough to buy a real signal in your market, which varies. We have launched a brand-new attraction to 1.3 million people reached on a five-figure paid social budget, so efficiency is a craft we take seriously.

What is programmatic advertising?

Automated buying of display, audio, and video inventory across the open web, targeted by audience rather than by site. It extends reach beyond the walled gardens, and we run it as part of full-funnel programs.

Do you run connected TV ads?

Yes. CTV puts television-quality reach behind precise targeting, and it has become a practical channel for regional brands, not just national ones.

Google Ads or Meta ads: which is better?

Google captures demand that already exists; Meta creates demand that does not yet know you. Most growth plans need both, sequenced deliberately.

How fast do paid ads work?

Ads produce data immediately and profit after tuning. We test relentlessly, optimize weekly, and report plainly, so you always know which phase you are in.

Do you produce the ad creative too?

Yes, strategy through creative through reporting. Storytelling is a strength: our video series for the Zoological Society of Milwaukee positioned them as a thought leader across the AZA.

How do you report on ad performance?

Plainly, on a regular cadence, against the goal we agreed on, including what underperformed and what we are changing. No vanity dashboards.

How do you price paid media management?

We scope fees to the work and keep them transparent. Start with the AI Mention Report and the cost conversation happens with a plan on the table.

Can good ads fix a weak website?

No. Ads buy attention; the site has to convert it. That is why discoverability and paid media live together in our offer.

What does full-funnel mean?

Building awareness, consideration, and conversion as one system instead of betting everything on the last click. It is how a cold-start brand becomes a sold-out one.

What is retargeting and should I use it?

Showing ads to people who already engaged with you. Used with restraint it is among the most efficient spend in the plan; overused it burns trust.

Do you run political ads?

We run nonpartisan civic campaigns, like Early Voting Across Wisconsin, which drove voters in five cities to the state's official MyVote resource. We do not do partisan attack work.

Can you sell tickets to events with ads?

Yes, that is one of our favorite jobs. From cold-start attractions to national experiences, we tune paid media and creative to drive attendance and profit, not just impressions.

04 · Social media

Social media

Do you do social media management?

We are not a social media company, and if posting is all you need, we will tell you that you can do it for free. Our value is the strategy, the experience, and the access behind paid social that actually sells.

Can you get me leads from social media?

Anyone promising free social leads is selling you your own homework. We build paid social systems with creative, targeting, and measurement, and we judge them on revenue, not likes.

What is the difference between organic and paid social?

Organic is publishing and hoping; paid is distribution you control. Organic builds presence, paid builds pipeline, and the strategy decides the ratio.

Which social platform should my business be on?

The one where your customers decide things. We would rather run two channels well than five badly, and the research tells us which two.

Do you make video?

Yes, cinematic, story-led video is part of our craft. The Zoological Society series told five deeply personal stories and became a career highlight for the people in it.

Is TikTok worth it for business?

For reach and cultural relevance, often yes, especially paired with paid amplification. For some B2B categories, honestly, no. We will tell you which you are.

How often should I post on social media?

As often as you have something worth saying, and no more. Cadence without substance trains people to scroll past you.

Do you work with influencers?

Selectively, when a real voice fits the strategy. We care about audience trust and measurable lift, not follower counts.

Why does my competitor's social look better than mine?

Usually budget, consistency, or creative discipline, and sometimes it only looks better. We benchmark what is actually working before recommending you copy anyone.

05 · Local, maps, and reviews

Local, maps, and reviews

How do I rank higher in Google Maps?

Relevance, distance, and prominence: a complete Google Business Profile, consistent business information everywhere, steady reviews, and local signals. We manage all of it as the geo and local surface.

What is the local pack?

The map with three businesses at the top of local search results. It captures most of the high-intent clicks, which makes it some of the most valuable real estate in search.

How do I get more five-star reviews?

Build the ask into how you operate, make leaving a review effortless, and keep volume steady. We run review velocity programs across every location, and steady beats sporadic every time.

Should I respond to negative reviews?

Yes, quickly, like a human, without arguing. Future customers read your response more carefully than the complaint.

Can I delete a bad review?

Only if it violates platform policy, and you can request removal. Otherwise the play is response, recovery, and enough genuine positives that one bad note stops defining the song.

Do reviews affect whether AI recommends my business?

Yes. Models lean on review volume, recency, and sentiment as trust signals, so reputation work is now AI visibility work too.

What matters most on a Google Business Profile?

Accurate categories, hours, photos, services, and activity. An abandoned profile reads as an abandoned business, to people and to models.

Can you manage reviews across multiple locations?

Yes. We keep reviews flowing and managed across every location, which is exactly where reputation programs usually fall apart.

Can I buy reviews?

No. It violates platform rules, customers can smell it, and the penalties outlast the bump. Earned velocity wins.

What is NAP consistency and why does it matter?

Your name, address, and phone number matching everywhere they appear. Inconsistency makes both search engines and AI models less confident citing you, so we clean it up early.

I serve customers at their location. Does local SEO still apply?

Yes, service-area businesses compete in the map results too. The profile is configured differently, but the trust signals work the same.

How fast does local search work improve things?

Profile and consistency fixes can show movement within weeks; review velocity and prominence build over months. Local is often the fastest discoverability surface to improve.

06 · Websites and measurement

Websites and measurement

Do you design websites?

We are not a web design shop. We audit and fix sites for speed, structure, and discoverability, and through our partner bench we can manage a build, but the engagement is always strategy-led.

Is my website hurting my marketing?

If it is slow, confusing, or illegible to machines, yes, quietly and constantly. An audit tells you in days, and most fixes are cheaper than the traffic they are losing.

Does website accessibility matter for marketing?

Yes, ethically and commercially. Accessible sites serve more customers and tend to be better structured for search and AI.

Can you set up our analytics properly?

Yes. Honest measurement is a prerequisite for everything else we do, so we fix tracking early, including how AI-driven visits show up in your data.

Do I need landing pages or is my homepage enough?

Campaigns deserve pages built for one job. Sending paid traffic to a generic homepage is how budgets evaporate.

How much does page speed matter?

A lot. Speed affects rankings, ad costs, conversion, and whether AI crawlers bother reading you. It is usually the highest-leverage technical fix on the list.

Do I need a blog?

Only if it has a job: answering real customer questions with substance. Content without strategy or distribution is a diary, and we would rather you not pay for a diary.

Can you tell how much of my traffic comes from AI?

Partially. Referral data from AI engines is incomplete by design, but we triangulate it and benchmark your citations directly rather than pretending the dashboards see everything.

My site looks fine to me. How do I know if machines can read it?

Looking fine and being legible are different things. We test structure, schema, and crawlability directly, the same way the engines experience you.

07 · Events and ticket sales

Events and ticket sales

Can you promote my event and sell tickets?

Yes, that is core work for us, from cold-start attractions to national experiences. Paid media and creative tuned to attendance and profit, not impressions.

How far in advance should event promotion start?

Earlier than feels natural: awareness first, then consideration, then urgency. The teaser phase is where cheap reach lives, and we have made single teasers travel to hundreds of thousands of views.

Can you fill an attraction nobody has heard of?

We have. Jurassic Journey USA started with zero followers and reached 1.3 million people, generating 64,600 ticket link clicks across its run.

What channels actually sell tickets?

Paid social does the heavy lifting for most events, with search capturing intent and retargeting closing it. The mix shifts by audience, which is what the research phase is for.

Can ads make my event profitable, not just busy?

Yes, if margins and pricing are part of the plan from the start. We manage to profit targets, not attendance vanity.

My event is in three weeks and sales are soft. Can you help?

Sometimes, and we will tell you honestly. Urgency campaigns work best when awareness already exists; we triage before we take your money.

What happens after the event?

The audience you built is an asset. Retargeting lists, reviews, and content from the event become the cheaper launchpad for the next one.

08 · Working with Mention Group

Working with Mention Group

What does Mention Group do?

We are a discoverability consultancy. We make your brand the answer across AI, search, maps, and reviews, then run the paid media that turns that visibility into customers.

What makes Mention different from other agencies?

Strategy, experience, and access. Research-led thinking, Fortune 500 roots with a decade of national campaigns, and a vetted white-label bench run under one accountable partner: us.

Who is behind Mention Group?

Mention is owner-led by Ryan Thompson, who bought the firm from its founding owner and rebuilt it as a data-driven, strategy-first consultancy. His career started in social inside the Fortune 500, so he has seen campaigns from every seat: corporation, buyer, customer, and owner.

Do you do PR or press releases?

No. We focus on paid media and discoverability. Reviews and reputation cover the trust side, so we do not pitch press or chase coverage we cannot measure.

Who do you work best with?

Founder-led and family-owned companies that move fast, and mission-driven organizations where being found means more donors, families, and good done. Owners and missions, not procurement.

Do you really have Fortune 500 experience?

Yes, our roots are there, and the discipline came with us. It is experience a startup shop cannot claim, applied with the care a big agency cannot give you.

Do you work with nonprofits?

Yes, often and gladly. Civic campaigns, member organizations, and cultural institutions are some of our proudest work.

Where is Mention Group located?

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and we work nationally. We have run campaigns in Chicago, New York, Austin, and across the Midwest.

How does an engagement usually start?

With your AI Mention Report. It grounds the first conversation in evidence: where you stand, where competitors beat you, and what to do first.

How much does it cost to work with you?

Engagements are scoped to the goal, and we keep pricing transparent. Start with the report and the cost conversation happens with a plan already on the table.

Do you require long contracts?

We keep terms simple and scoped to the work. We would rather earn the renewal than rely on the lock-in.

Will I actually work with the owner?

Yes. Mention is deliberately small, and that is the point. When you work with us, you work with the people doing the thinking.

Do you white-label or partner with other agencies?

We run a vetted bench of specialists across PPC, search, social, programmatic, and business development, under our strategy and our accountability. You get one partner and the reach of many.

Can you advise our in-house marketing team instead of running everything?

Yes. Consulting engagements, audits, and strategy sprints are a natural fit for teams that can execute but want sharper thinking.

Do you take every client who can pay?

No. We take a small number of engagements and go deep, and we pass on commodity work. It keeps the work good and the clients happy.

What industries do you know best?

Attractions and experiences, hospitality, cultural institutions and nonprofits, civic work, and B2B services. The discoverability playbook adapts; the rigor does not.

How big is Mention Group?

Small on purpose. Senior thinking, a trusted bench for scale, and none of the overhead you would otherwise be paying for.

How long has Mention Group been around?

The brand has been elevating Wisconsin and national brands since 2013, with a decade of the current leadership's thinking behind it.

Do you offer one-time audits?

Yes. The AI Mention Report is exactly that: a strategic, evidence-based read you can act on with us or without us.

How do I get started?

Request your AI Mention Report at mention.report, or contact us directly. You will know where you stand within days.

Why are you called Mention?

Because being mentioned is the whole game: by customers, by reviews, by maps, and now by AI. We named ourselves after the outcome.