Austrian Optical Retail Chain Claims Dominant AI Search Visibility in 5 Months
How ithelps Digital used Rankscale to grow a national eyewear retailer's AI visibility from 14.7% to 75.3% across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Mode. Partner agency: ithelps Digital · Vienna, Austria
Partner agency: ithelps Digital · Author: Florian Prohaska
412%
AI Visibility growth in 5 months
85%
Recognition Rate across tracked prompts
38%
Top-3 Rate
The Client
A multi-location optical retail chain operating across Austria, competing in a category where "best optician near me" and "best glasses for [need]" style questions increasingly get answered directly by AI assistants before a shopper ever visits a store.
The Ask
Could a regional retailer build AI search authority fast enough to matter — not just nationally, but store-by-store, in dozens of local markets — in a category dominated by long-established national chains? The client asked ithelps Digital to establish and grow AI visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Mode, and to track it against category-leading competitors in real time.
Steps Taken in Rankscale
- 01
Audit & Benchmark
Brand-, category-, and location-specific prompts were configured in Rankscale's Search Terms module (e.g. "optiker [city]" patterns across dozens of Austrian towns, plus "who is the best optician in [city]?" comparison prompts), establishing a baseline AI Visibility of 14.7%.
- 02
Competitive Research
Rankscale's Competitor Analysis module benchmarked the client weekly against the market's established optical chains across all four major AI engines, surfacing the highest-opportunity local markets and topics.
- 03
Execution & Reporting
ithelps Digital produced AI-optimized, location-specific content to close the identified gaps, using Rankscale's monthly dashboard exports as the basis for client reporting and strategy calls.
Results
- AI Visibility grew from a 14.7% baseline to 75.3% in 5 months, with a Recognition Rate of 85% across all tracked prompts.
- The client reached a 38% Top-3 Rate, appearing among the top 3 cited sources for over a third of all tracked prompts.
- Total tracked engagement reached 185 mentions and 372 citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Mode.
Search Terms Module — Local Market Dominance
| Prompt type | Copilot | Google AI Mode | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "optiker [smaller town]" (4 example markets) | 71–83% | 77–100% | 77–83% | 83–91% |
| "Welcher Optiker ist der beste in [major city]?" (2 example cities) | – | 67–83% | 63–67% | 91–100% |
Across dozens of Austrian towns and cities, location-specific optician prompts now average 82% Found Rate across all four tracked AI engines. Example: "optiker dornbirn" reaches 100% Found Rate on Google AI Mode; "Welcher Optiker ist der beste in Graz?" reaches 100% on Perplexity.
Rankscale Search Terms module — location-specific optician prompts tracked across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and Google AI Mode in Austria:
“We run GEO campaigns for clients across half a dozen industries — from opticians to medical specialists to B2B software — and Rankscale is the only tool that scales with that. One dashboard, consistent methodology across every client, and reporting our team can hand straight to a client without extra work. It's become core infrastructure for how we deliver GEO as an agency, not just a nice-to-have add-on.”
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