6 AI SEO Agent Habits that Got Us 57,100 AI Mentions in 3 Months

If you want to win AI mentions but

↳ You rank on Google and AI still names a competitor

↳ You do not know which keywords are worth fighting for

Then build an AI SEO agent with Claude and teach it these 6 habits.

👉**Run this 6-step playbook, or let Distribb run it for you

#1 Pre-requisite. Learn to use Claude Code routines.**

> I analyzed 120 buying searches across twelve categories, from CRM software to espresso machines. For each one I pulled the AI Overview and the organic top 10 off the same page, at the same moment, then checked whether the site ranking first was named in the AI answer. It was, 52% of the time. Half the time the site Google ranked first did not make it into the answer Google wrote. In 8 of the 12 categories that miss rate was half or worse, and it was worst in email marketing software and standing desks, where the top site got named once in five. AI med a site from outside the top 10 in 78% of searches. This is one snapshot of one day in the US, so it shows how far apart the two lists sit, not why.

TL;DR

I ran 120 buying searches and pulled the AI answer and the top 10 results off the same page.

↳ The #1 site on Google got named by Google's own AI 52% of the time

↳ So half the time, being first wins you nothing in the answer

↳ In 8 of the 12 categories, the #1 site was skipped half the time or more

↳ AI named a site from outside the top 10 in 78% of searches

↳ The most common site AI named that was not ranking: YouTube

↳ Step 1: Ask AI your own buying question

↳ Step 2: Read your Search Console queries

↳ Step 3: Find what makes your competitor visible

↳ Step 4: Mine Google autocomplete for buying words

↳ Step 5: Make people search your brand next to the keyword

↳ Step 6: Put your answer where AI actually reads

The 6-step playbook

Step 1: Ask AI your own buying question

Your rank tells you nothing about this. Go look.

↳ Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode: "best <what you sell> for <your customer>"

↳ Write down every business the answer names

↳ Write down every source it cites

↳ Do it for your ten best buying keywords

If a competitor is named and you are not, that is your list. If nobody is named, the slot is open.

Time: 20 minutes.

Step 2: Read your Search Console queries

Search Console already knows which words bring you people.

↳ Open Performance, then Queries

↳ Sort by impressions, not clicks

↳ Anything at position 5 to 15 is a word you almost own

↳ Anything with impressions and no clicks is a word you show up for but nobody picks you

The almost-ranking list is the cheapest work you have. You are already close.

Time: 20 minutes.

Step 3: Find what makes your competitor visible

Take the competitor AI named in step 1 and find the page it pulled from.

↳ Open the source AI cited, not the competitor homepage

↳ Note what that page answers that you do not

↳ Note the exact number, price, or comparison it gives

↳ Write the same answer, better, on your own page

You are not copying the page. You are closing the gap that made them the answer.

Time: 45 minutes.

Step 4: Mine Google autocomplete for buying words

Google will tell you the words people actually type. Free.

↳ Type your service into Google and read the dropdown

↳ Add "best", "cheapest", "for", "near me", "vs" and read it again

↳ Keep the ones a buyer would type, drop the ones a student would

↳ "best <thing> for small business" is a buyer. "what is <thing>" is not

Ask Claude to sort your list into buyers and learners. Work the buyers first.

Time: 20 minutes.

Step 5: Make people search your brand next to the keyword

This is the one nobody does. You can create the association yourself.

↳ Put your brand and the keyword together in every video title, post, and ad ↳ Run ads on your own brand plus the keyword

↳ Ask happy customers to search you by name plus what you do

↳ Keep it up for a quarter, not a week

When people search your brand next to a keyword, that pairing becomes a real pattern. Rising branded volume is the signal you can move that nobody else can copy.

Time: ongoing.

Step 6: Put your answer where AI actually reads

AI does not read your site much. It reads other sites talking about you.

↳ YouTube was the single most common source AI named that was not even ranking

↳ Make a video for the same keyword and put the keyword in the title

↳ Answer the real Reddit threads in your niche, with your own numbers

↳ Get added to the "best of" lists AI already cites

Your page can be perfect and still lose to a nine minute video and a Reddit thread. Be in all three places.

Time: 2 hours per keyword.

Run the 6 steps in order

↳ Step 1: ask AI your buying question, write down who gets named

↳ Step 2: pull the almost-ranking words from Search Console

↳ Step 3: open the page AI cited for your competitor and beat it

↳ Step 4: mine autocomplete, keep the buyer words

↳ Step 5: pair your brand with the keyword everywhere, for a quarter

↳ Step 6: put the same answer on YouTube, Reddit, and the lists AI cites

Try Distribb free and let the agent do this every week

Thanks for reading.

Borja