AI Summary Inclusion: Fast Frigate’s Mini-Milestone
Update: 6/11/25:
And the Hits Just Keep On Coming
Yesterday was exciting, to say the least.
It reminded me of the pre-2003 / Esmerelda days. When the “Google Dance” would only happen a few times a year, every three month or so, and in-between we’d all optimize fanatically in hopes the next reindexing would be the one that put our clients over the top.
It felt that way, because - boom. I casually checked our rankings, expecting to see another example of continuing, gradual improvement, but - no. I did not know what I was in for.
All of a sudden, we were / are everywhere for our geo-targeted, service-specific MVKs (Most Valuable Keywords).
Correlation is rarely causation in the world of SEO. But on this occasion, in part because FastFrigate.com is such a young site, I’m confident I know the two or three specific things that put us over the top in terms of attaining extremely competitive organic and AI summary positioning yesterday.
It was not easy. Those things only cranked the needle because we’d been finding time to spend on content strategy, authority building, backlinks - the fundamentals. And Burlington, Vermont has become a tech hub over the last 20 years. As a result, there’s an overabundance of digital marketing agencies here. We had our work cut out for us.
Now - let us do the same for you. Tell us what you’re working with, what’s keeping you up at night, and how we can help. It’s not a question of “whether”.
6/5/25:
We talk a big game about optimizing for AI-powered search - so we figured we should probably get serious about backing it up for our own little corner of the interwebnets.
While our site is still very new, we just hit a gratifying little milestone: our first non-branded citation in a Google AI (Gemini) Overview. For the query “burlington vt content strategy”, our content strategy services page was highlighted as a trustworthy reference — right there in the carousel, alongside much, much (currently) larger industry players.
I don’t expect anyone else to be joining me in sets of backyard cartwheels - but let us have our moment. Naturally, we screenshotted the hell out of it.
The Cobbler Got His Jordans
The saying goes, “The cobbler’s children have no shoes.” But in this case, the cobbler took a minute to lace up his high-tops - and got noticed for it.
We’ve been working behind the scenes to structure our own site the same way we recommend for clients:
Geo-specific targeting
Clear topical hierarchy
Structured content optimized for AI crawlers
Supportive on-page signals like semantic headers and internal linking
Heck, there’s a whole bunch of tactics the industry is learning creates AI traction…
It’s not magic. It’s deliberate SEO for generative search — and it works. And listen, Chicken Little - SEO is not dead. It’s just evolving. Just like it has significantly every 3-5 years since I wrote my first HTML meta title - way back in 1997.
Want a peek at said tactics? Our post on optimizing for AI search citations lays out the strategy.
“We know people are using AI tools. We know how LLMs work. We know how to appear in LLMs and AI answers. And yet... it seems almost no one is doing this work?! WTH marketers?!”
Why AI Summary Inclusion Should Be Keeping You Up At Night
Getting cited in an AI overview isn’t just a novelty. It’s a burgeoning new trust signal. And in 2025, that trust is crucial as traditional organic real estate keeps shrinking:
According to a recent Semrush study, 13.14% of all queries triggered AI Overviews in March 2025. That’s up from 6.49% in January 2025.
AI Overviews Reduce Click-Through Rates: The introduction of AI Overviews has significantly impacted organic click-through rates. For instance, when AI Overviews are present, the click-through rate for the top organic result can drop from 7.3% to 2.6%.
Organic Traffic Is Declining: Many marketers report year-over-year organic traffic declines of 20–40%, especially for content easily summarized by AI tools.
In other words: showing up in generative summaries is today’s rich snippet (humor me by forgetting rich snippets still exist). And it might soon be tomorrow’s only SERP real estate worth fighting for. #overdramatic
Our post on how schema markup increases visibility digs deeper into the technical side of this.
Why They Matter for Clients
Here’s why this milestone isn't just good for us - it’s a preview of what we aim to deliver, and already are - especially for our clients with well-established sites/brands:
Increased Authority: Appearing in AI summaries signals trust — to search engines and your audience.
Higher Engagement: Citations in overview panels are attention magnets.
Lead Quality: Visitors who click through from AI answers are high-intent, not just casual scrollers.
Defensible Visibility: AI citations are harder to game than traditional rankings, offering more sustainable reach.
If you’re a business wondering how to improve your presence in AI-powered search, check out our Burlington Vermont SEO capabilities. (So I included an obtusely placed geotarget. I’m an SEO. Sue me).
Timeline: Site Launch to First AI Inclusion
🗓️ Late Jan 2025 — FastFrigate.com launches
🔧 Feb–Apr — Core service pages and blog content created and structured for AI discovery
🔎 May 2025 — Initial crawl inclusion observed in Gemini
📌 June 2025 — First visible non-branded citation appears in AI Overview
… and three dozen little tests and tweaks in between. Because we’re not in the AI goldrush.
We’re at first light of the Monday morning of the AI goldrush.
Ready to Show Up in AI Search Results?
If your brand isn’t being cited in tools like Gemini or Copilot, your most valuable prospects may never even see you. Think about that for a second. We don’t have to love this latest evolution in the history of SEO - but we must act accordingly.
Fast Frigate can help you with that. From site structure to semantic targeting, we’ve been busy developing a search optimization program for the future - and not just in theory. We do it for ourselves, too. And now we have proof of concept.
Let’s talk about AI-first SEO. That goldrush is in full swing.
