Case Study · AI Visibility Audit
From Invisible to Citable: An Academic's AI Visibility Score, 3 to 62
AISearch Global's first client engagement: an AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) audit and remediation on a UK academic researcher and published author's personal website. The objective was to make scattered publications, lectures, and an academic profile correctly attributable, structured, and citable by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
AI Visibility Score
This engagement was delivered as AISearch Global's first client under The Circle, with additional services individually costed and discussed after scoping.
Site Condition at Intake
| Issue | Detail |
|---|---|
| Attribution | Several published thought pieces existed online with no name attached to the author. |
| Security | Domain lacked HTTPS - flagged and resolved. |
| Structure | Publications, lectures, and interviews scattered across multiple unlinked sources. |
| Schema | No structured data - the site was invisible to AI crawlers as an authoritative entity. |
| Language | Site copy not written in a citation-friendly, extractable format. |
AEO Remediation - Work Completed
- Person / author entity schema implemented.
- Orphaned thought pieces re-attributed to the correct author.
- FAQPage schema added for citation-style extraction.
- Content restructured into a citation-friendly format.
- Canonical consolidation of scattered publications into one authoritative source.
- Missing HTTPS identified and enabled.
- Site rebuilt as a portfolio/archive - publications, university lectures, interviews, panel discussions, conference presentations.
- Academic metrics surfaced - citation counts, h-index, journal quartiles, percentile rankings - drawn from scholarly repositories.
- Visual design aligned to the client's most recent monograph.
Project at a Glance
The Brief
What the client actually needed.
The client is a researcher and practitioner based at a London university, with a growing body of peer-reviewed work across journals, book chapters, edited volumes, and commissioned research. In 2026, a monograph published by a major academic press added a significant public-profile milestone to their output.
Their existing online presence was limited to an institutional staff profile and scattered social media. They had no personal website, no structured publication list, and no way to direct media enquiries, speaking invitations, or readers to a single authoritative source.
The brief was clear: a professional website that felt appropriate for a senior researcher and published author - not a template, not a WordPress theme, not a digital CV. Something considered. Something they could own and update without a developer, built before the book's publication window.
Our Approach
Audited the client's full online footprint - Google Scholar, Academia.edu, institutional profile, social channels. Identified what content existed, what was missing, and where the gaps between platforms created inconsistency.
Designed a single-page application structure giving the impression of a full multi-section site without page reloads - appropriate for a browsing pattern rather than a navigating one. Mapped five primary sections and defined the content model for each.
Built a bespoke design system from the ground up: typeface pairing (an editorial serif with a geometric sans), a restrained monochromatic palette with a single considered accent, photo treatment, and a component library covering all site elements.
Hand-coded in HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript - no external frameworks, no build tooling, no dependencies that could break. Fully responsive from 320px to 1440px. All images locally referenced; no third-party assets except Google Fonts.
Structured and categorised 30+ publications spanning 2015–2026 into a filterable archive. Designed consistent metadata treatment across seven distinct output types. Built tab-based filtering with no external library.
Produced a tailored WordPress deployment guide calibrated to the client's technical comfort level and workflow - structured for independent use, with a quick-mode option and clearly marked stop points for managing the process in stages.
Deliverables
Typography pairing, colour palette, spacing scale, photo treatment, and full component library scoped to the site. Documented for extension.
Home, Professional Profile, Latest Book, Publications, and Contact - built as a single-page application with section-level navigation and smooth state management.
30+ publications structured across six category tabs: All, Latest Book, Extant Peer-Reviewed, In Press & Forthcoming, Research, and Miscellaneous. Year-tagged, consistently formatted, extensible.
Dedicated page section with professional photo, full descriptive copy, publisher and series details, and direct purchase links (AU and UK).
Full bio page with sidebar navigation, employment history, affiliations, research focus areas, and a compact publications summary for quick scanning.
Google Scholar citation count and h-index surfaced in the hero section via direct link - kept current without manual updates.
Tested and validated across breakpoints from 320px to 1440px. Navigation, typography, layout, and photo treatment each adapted for small screens.
A structured onboarding guide tailored to the client - step-by-step staging and deployment workflow with a quick-mode option and stop points for managing the process independently over time.
Technical spotlight - the publications archive: the most technically considered deliverable. The client had accumulated more than thirty scholarly outputs since 2015, spanning peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, edited collections, reference work entries, video contributions, commissioned research reports, and miscellaneous press. Each output type required different metadata treatment, so we designed a tab-based filter accommodating six categories with a consistent year-tagged list view that maintains typographic coherence across every item type - entirely hand-coded with no external dependencies, and structured so the client can add new publications directly without breaking the layout or filter logic.
The Website - Section by Section
Two-column hero with professional portrait (light-panel) and book feature (dark-panel). Live citation stats, primary and secondary CTAs, key affiliation strip. The opening screen serves as a complete first impression without scrolling.
Full academic bio structured with sidebar navigation, employment and education chronology, key affiliations, research focus areas, and a compact publications list. Designed for the reader who arrives from a speaking invitation or media enquiry.
Dedicated showcase for the 2026 monograph: professional photograph, full descriptive copy, publisher and series information, and direct links to purchase through major retailers. Designed for longevity - can be updated for future titles.
The full scholarly record - 30+ items across six categories, year-tagged, with metadata consistent across every output type. Tab filtering, a floating back-to-top button, and a featured book block that surfaces when the Latest Book filter is selected.
Primary email call-to-action (left panel) alongside a structured list of social and academic profiles - Google Scholar, Academia.edu, LinkedIn, Instagram, X/Twitter - with platform labels and contextual copy on response expectations.
Outcomes
A publisher-quality professional web presence live ahead of the 2026 monograph publication window - giving the book a credible home to direct readers, journalists, and institutions.
First-page search results for the client's name now populated with controlled, client-owned content rather than scattered institutional fragments.
A full publication record - thirty-plus items spanning eleven years - organised, categorised, and publicly accessible in a single location for the first time.
A site the client can maintain independently: adding publications, updating copy, and managing their deployment without ongoing developer involvement.
A CMS guide calibrated to the client's workflow - structured for confidence, not overwhelm - delivered as a self-contained document they can return to at any point.
On confidentiality: this case study is prepared for business development purposes only. The client's name, institutional affiliation, publication titles, and all other identifying details have been withheld at their request. A named reference and further project detail are available on enquiry.
Client Testimonial
Our first client, in The Circle: this engagement was AISearch Global's first client under The Circle, with additional services individually costed and discussed after scoping. The Circle is by invitation - not publicly purchasable, gated to LinkedIn connections and academic contacts - reflecting the firm's commitment to supporting educators and education-focused personal brands. The work itself ran over a handful of weeks; we then held the case study for roughly a month and a half so the AI Visibility Score result had time to settle before we reported it, rather than publishing a same-week number. The client - a UK academician and published author - asked that their identity stay private, so every detail that could identify them has been withheld here. AISearch Global takes client privacy seriously: every case study we publish is anonymised and client-approved before it goes live.
"The site was built as a portfolio and archive combining my publications across genres, university lectures, interviews, panel discussions, and conference presentations, drawing on scholarly repositories to surface my citation counts, h-index, journal quartiles, and percentile rankings - with a colour theme aligned to my recent monograph. The first draft was delivered in an exceptionally short timeframe. High quality work that accurately captured the brief."
- First Client, The Circle · AISearch Global (United Kingdom)
AI disclosure: AEO score figures are generated by AISearch Global's proprietary AEO Score Calculator.
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