I got sent an AI search optimisation audit that cost a business thousands of pounds. It was beautifully presented, full of charts and graphs, and packed with confident recommendations about AI citations and ChatGPT visibility.

It also missed a whole BUNCH of stuff.

Hi, I’m Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I’m talking about: an audit that recommended deleting pages that were actively driving real traffic from Google — because a proprietary AI visibility tool said they weren't getting ChatGPT citations.

I'll break down exactly why this kind of audit is dangerous, not just useless, and what the businesses being sold this stuff actually need to know.

I cover what a real audit should include, why Google organic traffic still dwarfs AI referral traffic for most sites, and the red flags to watch for before you hand over your budget to someone flogging "proprietary AI search tools".

If you've been pitched an AI search audit — or you're tempted — listen to this first.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Have you been had by an AI search audit?

00:54 What happened: The audit I was sent

01:43 What the audit missed — 462 errors, redirect chains, and more

02:20 The analytics data they ignored: Google vs ChatGPT traffic

03:42 The dangerous advice: deleting pages that were actually working

05:00 Why this makes me so f&%king angry

06:24 The fix: check your numbers

08:17 Red flags to watch for before you pay for any AI SEO audit

Mentioned in this episode:

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