How a regulated firm became a source for Google and AI answers.
A regulated professional-services firm in Australia. Work started on 5 May 2026. Google sent its site 32 clicks in the 28 days to 7 May 2026 and 870 in the 28 days 23 Sep–20 Oct 2026, and in the scan of 28 Sep 2026 Google's AI Overviews linked its pages on 10 of the 12 specialist questions I track. Below it: the most recent website build, 11 days from first draft to live.
I don't name clients without their written permission, so the firm's name, location, specialty and page addresses are left out. The numbers are as measured.
- Client
- Regulated professional services, Australia
- Started
- 5 May 2026
- Work
- SEO, AI-answer visibility, original-data pages
- Data to
- 20 Oct 2026
Jarek rebuilt how we show up on Google and in AI answers. Our Google clicks went from 32 to 870 a month, and every page was fact-checked and signed off by us before it went live.
The results
32 to 870
Google clicks to the firm's site, 28 days each
28 days to 7 May 2026 (before the work) vs 23 Sep–20 Oct 2026 (Google Search Console).
0 to 136
search terms without the firm's name, averaging page 1 on Google
Search terms with 5+ impressions, 28 days each: 10 Apr–7 May vs 28 Aug–24 Sep 2026 (Google Search Console). Includes a few searches issued by AI assistants.
10 of 12
tracked specialist questions where Google's AI Overviews linked the firm's pages
Scan of 28 Sep 2026. Every scan from 21 Aug to 28 Sep 2026: 8 to 10 of 12. All 35 tracked questions: 13 on 28 Sep.
0 to 8 of 25
tracked questions where ChatGPT links the firm's pages as a source
Questions that don't name the firm. Scans 10 May and 22 Sep 2026. Over the same scans ChatGPT named the firm in fewer answers (58% to 33%).
Across the sites we run
Google impressions and clicks, week by week.
110,319
Google impressions since May 2026
4 May–20 October 2026, Search Console
2,643
Google clicks since May 2026
4 May–20 October 2026, Search Console
36%
of tracked questions get an AI answer citing our sites
19 of 53 questions · 31 citations across Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity · scan of 21 October 2026
- Last 28 days (23 Sep–20 October 2026)
- 39,770 impressions, 872 clicks
- 28 days to 7 May 2026 (10 Apr–7 May 2026)
- 1,875 impressions, 32 clicks
The starting point
In the 28 days to 7 May 2026, the week work started, Google sent the firm's site 32 clicks. The only searches where it averaged page 1 were for the firm's own name or its people's names.
What I did
- May 2026
The technical base
A first pass of fixes: page titles and descriptions, heading structure, structured data for the firm and its people, and an author page for each professional. - May to Sep 2026
Specialist pages
Pages that answer narrow questions in the firm's field. Each fact is tied to a primary source, and the firm's professionals review each page before it goes live. - Late Jul 2026
An original-data page
Figures nobody else had put in one place, each with its source. In 28 Aug–24 Sep 2026 it took about half of the site's Google clicks, a window that includes one news-driven week (details below, under how the numbers were counted). - Every week
Measure, report, adjust
Google Search Console, Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT, checked weekly, with a short report to the firm.
What happened
It took about seven weeks to show. After work started, weekly clicks stayed between 6 and 19 until late June, then began to climb. Clicks per 28 days reached 512 by 27 Aug 2026 and 870 in the 28 days 23 Sep–20 Oct 2026.
Weekly Google clicks, April to October 2026
View the numbers
| Week (Wednesday to Tuesday) | Clicks |
|---|---|
| 8–14 Apr 2026 | 11 |
| 15–21 Apr 2026 | 11 |
| 22–28 Apr 2026 | 8 |
| 29 Apr–5 May 2026 (Work starts, 5 May) | 7 |
| 6–12 May 2026 | 7 |
| 13–19 May 2026 | 16 |
| 20–26 May 2026 | 16 |
| 27 May–2 Jun 2026 | 8 |
| 3–9 Jun 2026 | 6 |
| 10–16 Jun 2026 | 13 |
| 17–23 Jun 2026 | 13 |
| 24–30 Jun 2026 | 36 |
| 1–7 Jul 2026 | 29 |
| 8–14 Jul 2026 | 43 |
| 15–21 Jul 2026 | 60 |
| 22–28 Jul 2026 (Original-data page live, late July) | 85 |
| 29 Jul–4 Aug 2026 | 126 |
| 5–11 Aug 2026 | 116 |
| 12–18 Aug 2026 | 130 |
| 19–25 Aug 2026 | 127 |
| 26 Aug–1 Sep 2026 | 120 |
| 2–8 Sep 2026 | 185 |
| 9–15 Sep 2026 (News-driven week) | 432 |
| 16–22 Sep 2026 | 196 |
| 23–29 Sep 2026 | 202 |
| 30 Sep–6 Oct 2026 | 256 |
| 7–13 Oct 2026 | 198 |
| 14–20 Oct 2026 | 214 |
After the news-driven week, weekly clicks stayed above their level before it: 214 in 14–20 Oct 2026, against 185 in 2–8 Sep 2026 (Wednesday-to-Tuesday weeks, as in the chart).
What I learned
What gets cited is the page nobody else could have written.
In the scan of 28 Sep 2026, Google's AI Overviews linked the firm on 10 of 12 tracked questions in its specialist topics (8 to 10 in every scan from 21 Aug to 28 Sep 2026), and on none of the 3 broad ones in any scan. My reading: the specialist pages carried sourced facts nobody else had published, and the broad pages covered ground official sources already cover. Before I write a page now, I ask what it can say that nobody else has.
How the numbers were counted
Sources. Google Search Console for the firm's site: date view, settled days only. The September figures (971, the page-1 count, the news week) use data to 24 Sep 2026, pulled 28 Sep 2026; the latest window and the weekly chart use data to 20 Oct 2026, pulled 23 Oct 2026. Google's AI Overviews: LayerOps scans through DataForSEO's Google results API, Australia, desktop, 2 or 3 checks per question in each scan from 21 Aug to 28 Sep 2026. ChatGPT: Mangools AI Search Watcher, scans on 10 May and 22 Sep 2026 (UTC). Every headline figure on this page was re-derived independently on 28 Sep 2026.
The 28 days to 24 Sep 2026, and the news-driven week. The earlier headline figure was 971 clicks in the 28 days to 24 Sep 2026; it is no longer quoted as a headline because 442 of the 971 clicks came in the seven days 10–16 Sep 2026, when a news story broke on the data page's subject. The other 21 days averaged 25.2 clicks a day, about 705 per 28 days: 22 times the 32. The chart uses Wednesday-to-Tuesday weeks, so six of those seven days sit in its 9–15 Sep point (432). The latest window (23 Sep–20 Oct 2026) contains no news-driven week. The original-data page took 481 of the 971 clicks in 28 Aug–24 Sep 2026.
Search terms averaging page 1. "Without the firm's name" leaves out any search naming the firm or its people. "Averaging page 1" means Search Console's average position of 10 or better, phones and desktops blended, on search terms with at least 5 impressions in the window. The count includes a few searches issued by AI assistants, which Search Console counts like any other.
AI Overviews. A question counts as linked when at least one check linked a page on the firm's site. The three specialist topic groups and their 12 questions have been fixed since the first scan on 21 Aug 2026. The firm was linked on 8 of them on 21 Aug, 10 on 1 Sep, 8 on 17 Sep and 10 on 28 Sep 2026; a partial scan in between also found 10. Across all 35 tracked questions on 28 Sep 2026 the firm was linked on 13: the 10 specialist ones, 2 of 6 local service searches, and 1 of 14 in a newer topic whose pages went live on 1 Sep. Broad questions: 0 of 3 in every scan.
ChatGPT. Being linked as a source isn't the same as being recommended. Over the same scans, ChatGPT named the firm in fewer of its answers: 58% on 10 May and 33% on 22 Sep 2026, on the same 26 questions (one of which names the firm).
What this page doesn't claim. Enquiry tracking on the firm's site is new, so this page claims no enquiries, new clients or revenue. Local service-and-city searches and the firm's map listing are still being worked on, and this page claims no result there yet.
Latest window. Google Search Console, date view: 870 clicks in the 28 days 23 Sep–20 Oct 2026, pulled 23 Oct 2026 (the newest day used was three days old). That window does not include the news-driven week.
Version. The chart and the September figures use data to 24 Sep 2026; the latest window runs to 20 Oct 2026.
Website build
A national service business, first draft to live in 11 days.
11 days
from first draft to live, the most recent build
8 Oct 2026 to 19 Oct 2026. Timing depends on how quickly content is approved. All 29 pages in its sitemap indexed by Google by 20 Oct 2026; 162 Google impressions in its first two days, 19–20 Oct 2026.
The most recent build: 11 days from first draft to live (8 Oct 2026 to 19 Oct 2026). Timing depends on how quickly content is approved. It is a static site on Cloudflare with answer-first pages, structured data on every page, calculators, and a call-back form that is tested with a real test enquiry on every deploy.
Google indexed all 29 pages in its sitemap by 20 Oct 2026 (Search Console URL Inspection) and recorded 162 impressions in its first two days, 19–20 Oct 2026. Impressions are not enquiries: they show Google had started to show the pages. It is too early to report clicks or leads.
I don't name clients without their written permission, so the business and its address are left out.
Want results like these for your business?
Book a 15-minute call, or leave your number and I'll call you.
Or call 0404 003 240 jarek@layerops.tech. I reply within one business day.