You already have Search Console. Almost nobody reads it.
Most organisations have Google Search Console. Almost none open it weekly. The data is already there: the questions people asked, the pages that answered them, what fell out of the index. We connect the official accounts, collect that reading on a schedule, and set it against whether ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Perplexity still name you.
When something has moved, an agent writes a short note. A person still decides what to do.
Four steps. Then a note.
The same arrangement we already run on sites we operate: connect, collect, compare, note.
Connect the official accounts
Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, on the organisation's own property. We link the accounts, check the sitemaps, and take a first reading so we know the data is real before anything runs on its own.
Collect every week
Queries, pages, countries, devices. This period against the last one, so a slide is a fact rather than a feeling. We also watch whether official pages that should be in the index have dropped out — and keep the history, not a screenshot of last month's screen.
Compare with what AI cites
The same questions, asked of ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews. Who got named, and whether the official site was among them. The brief is the gap: Google already associates you with the query; the assistant named someone else.
Send a short note
A note when something moved — losses, new queries, a citation drop, a page that left the index. Not another dashboard to log into. A person still decides what to do.
Ranked in Google. Missing from the answer.
Search Console shows what Google already associates with the official site. Citation checks show who the assistant named. The difference is the brief.
Classic search
Impressions, clicks, position, pages, queries. This period against the last, so a slide is a fact, not a feeling. Coverage so a missing official page is visible.
The comparison
Take the queries you already appear for. Ask the engines the same questions. Keep the ones where you rank and are not cited — or where a listings site, a wiki, or last year's PDF got named instead.
The note
What moved. Who got named instead. One official page worth looking at. Welsh and English paths split when both exist. A comms lead can read it in three minutes.
On a schedule, with a person in the loop.
Each one is a job, not a platform. Start with collection and the gap. Add the rest when they earn their keep.
Collection
Takes the agreed reading from Search Console and Bing — daily or weekly — writes it down, and says so if access has lapsed.
The gap
Sets the queries you already appear for in Google against the live citation check. The list of questions Search Console knows you for, and the assistant answered with someone else, is the actual brief.
What dropped
This stretch against the last one. The biggest lost clicks, pages that slid, queries that vanished. The Monday note is written from those losses, not from a chart nobody opened.
Missing pages
Sitemaps and coverage. Flags the official page that ought to be in the index and is not — the quiet failure that looks like a marketing problem.
Official source
For organisations that have to be the source: watches whether the engines still cite the official site, or a listings page, a wiki, last year's PDF. Sharper still when Welsh and English addresses both exist.
The weekly note
Turns the week into something a comms lead can read in three minutes. What moved. Who got named instead. One page worth looking at. A person still signs off before anything is published.
Three minutes. Then a person decides.
An example, not a live client report. This is what the weekly note is for.
- Search Console
- Queries and pages that moved against the previous period. Coverage: official URLs that should be in the index and are not.
- Bing
- Where Webmaster Tools reports crawl or AI performance, the same window, in the same note — not a second login.
- Citation
- Engines that named the official host this week, and who they named instead.
- Gap
- Queries already associated with you in Google that the assistants did not cite. That list is the brief.
- One look
- A single official page worth opening. A person still decides whether to act.
Read it first, then keep it running.
Connect first. Automate second. Keep it running. Nothing priced against a property we have not seen.
Connect and first reading
The consultancy day. Accounts linked, first Search Console and Bing reading, first citation pass on the questions that matter, and a written gap list. Useful even if you never start the weekly checks.
Keep it running
Weekly collection, stored history, the comparison with citations, and the agents worth running for your work. Delivered to the mailbox or channel you already use. Nothing you do not need.
Stay current
Access lapses. Site changes move URLs. Engines change what they cite. The retainer re-runs the checks and sends the note. From the existing care-plan floor; how much watching you need is quoted against the property.
Half-day or full day. Then we know.
The consultancy day is the first reading. Mention search operations in the message.
Search operations, plainly.
Search Console already has a screen for this. Most organisations never open it weekly. We treat the data as something to collect, keep, and act on: a schedule, a history, and an agent that only bothers a person when the picture has changed.
The extra layer is the comparison with AI. Google can rank you for a query while ChatGPT names a competitor. That gap is not in Search Console. It is the product.
Google Search Console for the official property — queries, pages, sitemaps, whether a URL is in the index. Bing Webmaster Tools where it reports crawl or AI performance. Then our citation check across ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews.
We already run this on sites we operate. The client work is the same arrangement on your property, with you holding the accounts.
The care plan includes a monthly citation check. Search operations goes further: Search Console and Bing on a schedule, this period against the last, the gap against AI, and a short note instead of a spreadsheet.
Many organisations only need the monthly check. The consultancy day is how we tell which.
No. Connecting the accounts does not change what a model quotes. Answer-engine optimisation is that work. Search operations tells you whether it is working, where Google already knows you and the assistant does not, and when something broke.
That is the other direction: agent readiness. This page is your search data, collected on a schedule, with a person in the loop. That page is their assistant finishing on the official site.
The data is already there. Read it weekly.
The first conversation is unpaid. You leave knowing whether connecting Search Console and comparing it with citations is the job — or whether the site itself needs citation work first.