The person typing already has your name
This is the single feature that separates it from an ordinary search. Nobody is browsing for a roofer. They were handed a name, by a referral, a mailer, a yard sign, a salesperson who left an hour ago, and now they are testing it.
That means you cannot treat them as a stranger to win over. They are partway through a decision about you, and they are the most valuable person who will look at your company that day.
The box holds a name and a worry
Look at what gets typed. It is rarely a keyword. It is a short, honest worry with the company's name stuck in it:
- Can I trust [your company]?
- Is [your company] worth the money?
- [your company] reviews
The last one is barely a question at all, just a name and a word. It still counts, because the definition only cares that the name is already in the search.
What comes back is an explanation, not a menu
For years the result was a page of links and the person did the reading. Increasingly the result is a written answer on an AI platform, assembled from whatever evidence the platform could find, with the option to keep asking.
That changes who does the judging. The person used to compare a few sources and decide. Now a model compares them first and hands over a conclusion. If the evidence behind the company is thin, the conclusion is thin too, and the person can feel it.
Then the person decides, and you are not there
After reading, they do one of three things: move forward, hold off, or drift toward a name the answer offered instead. None of those leaves a trace you can see. No page view is recorded when the answer is written on someone else's platform, so your analytics stay quiet while the decision is being made.
A fair test of whether the idea has landed: if you can describe what the last five people searching your company's name were told, you are reading the search. If you cannot, it is still happening without you.
Why it is worth a name
Every company already has this search running, whether or not anyone has labeled it. A name gives you something to measure, and a better question than "how is our marketing doing". The next note lists the questions people use.
Next To see the actual wording people use, go to The questions