Skaalen SEO in AI Search Tools — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude

Overview

As AI-powered search tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) become a primary research channel for consumers, Asymmetric has been actively working to improve Skaalen's visibility within these tools — not just in traditional Google search results. This article documents the strategy, current status, and rationale as discussed in the April 2026 monthly marketing call.

Context: Why AI Search Visibility Matters

During the April 2026 call, Kris Krentz raised a concern about Skaalen's search ranking after receiving a solicitation email claiming the organization ranked poorly for certain keywords. Melissa Cusumano's response reframed the issue:

"A lot of people are doing research in ChatGPT or Claude or Gemini — they're not even doing Google. And what's really cool there is that our SEO is picking up in the different AI tools."

Traditional Google rankings are highly personalized — they vary by location, time of day, and device. A cold solicitation email claiming poor rankings is not a reliable signal. AI search tools represent a parallel and increasingly important discovery channel.

Strategy: Becoming a Reference Source

The core tactic is content-driven authority building — publishing high-quality blog content on topics relevant to senior living so that AI tools cite Skaalen as a reference when users ask related questions.

Example use case: A user asks ChatGPT, "What is a continuum of care and what should I look for?" — Skaalen's blog content on that topic could be surfaced as a cited source in the response.

Melissa noted that Asymmetric has seen this work across multiple clients:

"It's possible that you'll be one of the references in the information that it pulls. We've had a lot of luck with that in a handful of different client blogs."

Active Content Efforts

• Continuum of Care blog — An updated version was in Dawn Zaemisch's queue for review as of the April 2026 call. This is a priority piece for AI search visibility given the direct relevance of the topic to Skaalen's service offerings.
• Ongoing blog cadence — Asymmetric continues to push for regular blog publishing despite some internal resistance, specifically because of its compounding SEO and AI-visibility value.

Traditional SEO Status (April 2026)

For context alongside AI search efforts:

• Branded keywords (e.g., "Skaalen") drive the highest click-through volume in Google Search Console.
• Long-tail informational queries (e.g., "when to move to memory care") are driving traffic to existing blog content — confirming the content strategy is working.
• Average position for tracked keywords is strong.
• Organic search traffic was up 35% month-over-month in March 2026.
• Asymmetric committed to analyzing the specific keywords from the solicitation email Kris received to identify any genuine optimization gaps.

Action Items (from April 2026 call)

Related

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