/ai-search-rescue

name: ai-search-rescue
description: 'Use when a site has lost visibility in AI search surfaces (Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT citations, Perplexity citations) or wants to systematically work toward being cited rather than just ranked. Trigger phrases include "AI Overviews recovery", "ChatGPT zitiert uns nicht mehr", "wir sind aus den AI Overviews rausgeflogen", "generative engine optimization", "GEO strategy", "AI search visibility", "warum zitiert AI Overview den Wettbewerber statt uns", "Perplexity-Citations aufbauen". Anti-Use: NICHT für klassische SERP-Rankings — dafür existieren `seo-outreach-report` und `competitor-deep-audit`.'
user-invocable: true
argument-hint: '[domain]'
allowed-tools: [Read, Grep, Glob]
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: Max Schottke
  version: '0.5.4'
  category: marketing

AI Search Rescue

Overview

A framework for recovering and growing visibility in AI search surfaces: Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, Claude.ai search. The mechanics differ from classical SERP-ranking: instead of position 1-10 of a result list, you are competing to be the source the LLM cites in a generated answer.

Two operational findings drive this skill:

1. **AI citations may lead classical SERP recovery by several weeks.** In one mid-sized e-commerce recovery (March 2026 Core Update), AI-Mode + AI-Overviews + ChatGPT citations started moving up roughly 2–6 weeks before the Sistrix VI did. The pattern is an observation from a single case plus published anecdata, not a measured statistical relationship. Treat it as an indicator worth watching, not a prediction. If you observe the same or opposite pattern in your own recoveries, please contribute the data point back to `LESSONS.md`. 2. **The optimization isn't keyword targeting, it's passage targeting.** AI surfaces extract short passages (one sentence to one paragraph) that directly answer a sub-question of the user's prompt. If your page has no extractable passages, you don't get cited even when you rank #1 organically.

When to use

• A site that recovered organic rankings but is invisible in AI Overviews
• Owner says "ChatGPT keeps recommending our competitor, never us"
• Site has thin or unstructured content that AI surfaces can't extract from
• Post-Core-Update recovery work — track AI citations as leading recovery indicator
• New domain/topic launch — set up for AI-citability from day one
• B2B / YMYL site (medical, legal, financial) — AI surfaces over-index on authoritative sources here

**Don't use for:**

• Pure SERP-position optimization (use `seo-outreach-report` + `competitor-deep-audit`)
• Local-pack / Map-pack work (different mechanics)
• Pure e-commerce product-page conversion (different lever)

How AI surfaces choose what to cite

Different surfaces, similar mechanics. The model receives a user query, retrieves candidate documents (via search index or RAG), and assembles a generated answer. Two questions determine if you make it in:

1. **Does the retriever surface your page?** This is classical SEO — backlinks, relevance, freshness, indexability. 2. **Does the LLM find an extractable passage on your page that directly answers a sub-question?** This is new — it depends on structure, clarity, and the presence of definitive, source-able statements.

You can do everything right on #1 and lose on #2. Sites that rank #3 organically but get zero AI citations almost always fail on extractability.

digraph extractability {
  "Page indexable + retrieved?" [shape=diamond];
  "Has clear topic sentence per section?" [shape=diamond];
  "Definitive statements vs hedged generalities?" [shape=diamond];
  "Author/source attribution visible?" [shape=diamond];
  "Cited by AI surface" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightgreen];
  "Skipped — not retrieved" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightcoral];
  "Skipped — no extractable passage" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightyellow];
  "Skipped — too vague to cite" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightyellow];
  "Skipped — no author trust signal" [shape=box,style=filled,fillcolor=lightyellow];

  "Page indexable + retrieved?" -> "Has clear topic sentence per section?" [label="yes"];
  "Page indexable + retrieved?" -> "Skipped — not retrieved" [label="no"];
  "Has clear topic sentence per section?" -> "Definitive statements vs hedged generalities?" [label="yes"];
  "Has clear topic sentence per section?" -> "Skipped — no extractable passage" [label="no"];
  "Definitive statements vs hedged generalities?" -> "Author/source attribution visible?" [label="definitive"];
  "Definitive statements vs hedged generalities?" -> "Skipped — too vague to cite" [label="hedged"];
  "Author/source attribution visible?" -> "Cited by AI surface" [label="yes"];
  "Author/source attribution visible?" -> "Skipped — no author trust signal" [label="no"];
}

Measurement: what to track and how

You cannot improve what you can't see. Three measurement layers:

Layer 1 — Brand mention tracking (free, daily)

Manually query the key AI surfaces with brand-relevant prompts. Track whether your domain is cited.

Sample prompt set for an e-commerce mattress shop:

• "Was ist die beste Matratze für Rückenschläfer?"
• "Wo kaufe ich Matratzen aus deutscher Produktion?"
• "Vergleich von Matratzenmarken in Deutschland"
• 10-15 more, covering category, problem-aware, and brand-aware queries

Run weekly across:

• Google AI Mode (https://www.google.com/search?udm=50)
• Google AI Overviews (regular search, AI Overview appears for ~80% of broad queries 2026)
• ChatGPT (web search enabled)
• Perplexity (free tier)
• Claude.ai (web search)
• Bing Copilot

Track in NDJSON or a spreadsheet:

date,query,surface,brand_mentioned,brand_position_in_citations,top_3_competitors_mentioned
2026-05-22,beste matratze rückenschläfer,google-ai-overview,yes,2,bett1.de;matratzen-concord.de;emma-matratze.de

Layer 2 — GSC AI-traffic filter (free, autom