Match the agency to your size and channel mix. Ignite Visibility and Intero Digital are the SEO-led choices, with Ignite the stronger fit for franchise systems; Power Digital and Mindgruve suit consumer brands that want search planned together with paid media, marketplaces and retail media; and Saba SEO is the most approachable option for a local business that wants a long-standing San Diego firm. In any pitch meeting, have the agency show how it reports visibility in AI answers as well as in Google rankings.
Can your website appear in ChatGPT search, and who controls that?
You do, through your robots.txt file. OpenAI, which launched ChatGPT search on October 31, 2024, uses a crawler called OAI-SearchBot to find pages for search answers and says sites that opt out of it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, although they can still appear as navigational links. A separate crawler, GPTBot, collects content that may be used to train OpenAI’s models, and each can be allowed or blocked on its own, so a business can stay visible in ChatGPT search while declining training; OpenAI says robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to apply.
Is E-E-A-T a Google ranking factor?
Not by itself. Google’s guidance on helpful, people-first content says experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness are recognized through a mix of factors, that E-E-A-T is not a specific ranking factor, and that trust matters most, especially on topics that affect people’s health, money or safety. It suggests asking who created the content, how it was made and why, which in practice means bylines with real author backgrounds, an explanation of methods, disclosure of AI or automation where readers would expect it, and content written mainly to help people rather than to rank.
How often does Google change its rankings?
Often enough to plan around. In 2025, Google’s Search Status Dashboard recorded core updates in March, June and December and a spam update in August; in 2026 it has recorded core updates in March and May, a third that began on November 10, and spam updates in March, June, August and September. The completed core updates took between about 12 and 18 days to roll out, so judge an agency on trends over several months rather than week-to-week swings.
