How AI SEO helped a global apparel brand maximize visibility in Google Search and perplexity.

The Challenge

A heritage fashion and apparel brand synonymous with a key product partnered with Gen3 Marketing’s SEO experts to strengthen on-site and off-site presence for their ecommerce website.

The goal was to overtake the #1 position in organic results for a critical target query. With 228K average monthly searches, high rankings for this deeply relevant term would equal measurable growth in organic-led sales.

Beyond a desire for the top-spot in traditional search results, there was a mounting need for visibility and positive sentiment in AI/LLM-generated results, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity.

What’s Perplexity?

Perplexity is quickly becoming one of the most influential AI search engines, and interest continues to grow:

• 15M+ active monthly users.
• 100M+ search requests per week.
• 192% year-over-year traffic increase, now exceeding 159M+ monthly visits.
• Average visit duration: 23 minutes—more than double what Google sees.
• Valued at $18 billion and projected to scale alongside the $600B generative AI market.

With usage numbers climbing rapidly and an expanding hybrid search/AI Q&A experience, Perplexity is where purchase-ready consumers go to refine and finalize their decisions. Securing visibility now means owning market share while competitors are left to catch up.

To maximize reach, Gen3 Marketing would need to extend presence beyond Google, focusing on visibility in LLMs (large language models) and generative search engines.

The Gen3 Approach

SEO practices prioritizing quality, crawlability, and user experience were emphasized early in the relationship. Redundant and unhelpful categories were purged while key collections and products were optimized.

As AI-driven LLMs like Perplexity gained traction, the client soon saw presence in the top spot for the target query within such platforms. While this was a powerful position, their result appeared only as text.

Meanwhile, competitors displayed rich product cards with images, ratings, and “Buy Now” links. The client risked losing clicks and missing the chance to turn AI visibility into measurable sales.

Fortunately, Gen3’s specialists view AI optimization as the natural next step of SEO.

Both disciplines rely on:

• Accurate, structured data that’s easy for crawlers (AI or search engines) to parse.
• Authority signals built through content, coverage, and link equity.
• On-page optimizations that feed algorithms the most relevant, high-quality information possible.

SEO basics laid the perfect foundation for AI success, as the client’s product and collection pages already incorporated best practices that appeal to AI crawlers.

The missing link was Perplexity’s merchant integration. This would unlock rich product displays and other capabilities.

The team coordinated with the client to create the appropriate account, enable a product feed, and leverage search-optimized assets such as product descriptions, images, reviews, and “About Us” content to enhance the client’s brand summary in Perplexity.

The Results

Within one year, Gen3 delivered incredible outcomes.

The team successfully lifted rankings for the target keyword from position 20 to #1 in Google search. This surge in visibility built the authority needed to expand the client’s presence into AI-driven search results.

Within days of activating and optimizing the client’s Perplexity Merchant account, their existing #1 spot for target query transformed into a full rich card experience, including:

• Product image pulled directly from the client’s PDP.
• Star rating display showing positive customer review scores.
• “Buy Now” button with one-click checkout integration.
• Brand summary curated from live positive press coverage and the client’s About page, which the team had previously optimized.

The client retained its #1 Perplexity search position and now commands a visually dominant result expected to increase click-through rates and drive qualified traffic straight to product pages.

By blending SEO expertise with targeted AI optimization, Gen3 Marketing’s organic search team helped the client own the conversation in Google, Perplexity, and other generative search platforms.

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