🗣️ This week’s stories
A deep look at how ChatGPT actually chooses its sources, from the scrapers and publisher tiers it pulls from, to why some questions never trigger a search at all, and what that means for getting cited.
A 270-query experiment across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity on how they recommend B2B alternatives, showing that the models converge on the same tight pool of brands no matter how you phrase it, that only contextual specificity shifts the ranking, and that all three pull from very different sources.
OpenAI's ad business is edging toward third-party measurement to prove its ChatGPT ads actually reach real people, a notable move given it won't share chat data with advertisers, and a sign of how quickly ad infrastructure is being built around AI answers.
From September 15, Cloudflare will block "mixed-use" AI crawlers by default on ad-supported sites unless they separate search crawling from AI training and agents, pushing the industry toward paying publishers for the content it uses.
🗒️ How to build an AI citation report using a skill
Building a Claude skill that turns Obsero citation data into a full report, for any brand.
A quick one.
I made a video this week on building a "skill" to recreate the AI citation report in last week’s edition, for any brand.
What is a skill?
A skill is a reusable playbook you hand to Claude. A set of instructions, plus any scripts or data it needs, that teaches it to do one job the same way every time. You write it once. Whenever a request matches, Claude loads it and follows your steps.
What is the Obsero AI citation skill?
The one I built takes an Obsero citations export and turns it into a full citation dashboard. Which publishers AI actually cites in your category, who mentions your brand and who doesn't, and the news and affiliate sites worth pitching. No re-explaining the process every time. The skill just knows.
One thing that jumped out building it for Butternut Box: a single review page went from 80 citations to over 500 in a few weeks. That is the kind of PR signal this report is built to catch, and exactly what you'd want to spot for your own brand.
Video's below. Worth a look if you want to build your own.
If you’re interested in the tools used in this video please see below:
You can also download the report that was created in the video below. 👇
👄 You can now talk to Obsero inside Claude
The Obsero MCP lets you ask your AI visibility data questions straight inside Claude.
This is the one I'm super excited about. We've shipped the Obsero MCP.
In plain terms: connect Obsero to Claude (or ChatGPT, or Gemini) and ask your AI-visibility data questions like you'd ask a colleague.
🗣️ Show me my visibility by model this month.
🗣️ Which publishers are citing us.
🗣️Where are we slipping against competitors.
Claude answering from live Obsero data and building the report on the spot.
It answers from Obsero data and will build you an actionable report on the spot. A full dashboard appeared in seconds. It's live now for Obsero customers.
Honestly, talking to your own data through Claude feels like a proper step change. Mike, Dan and I have got a lot more planned for it over the next few weeks.
That is it for this now.
Until next week.
Andy