When a founder or product leader asks ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, or Google's AI Overviews "who's the best product design agency for [their product, their stage, their vertical]," three to five studios get named — and the shortlist forms before a single portfolio loads. The cruel part for a design studio: your one winning asset is a wall of beautiful screens a language model can't see. We make your craft legible to the models that now gate the shortlist, and tie the recommendation back to scoped projects and CRM-tracked revenue. Across our work we hit an 80% recommendation success rate on targeted commercial prompts.
We define and prioritize the buyer prompts that decide design engagements in your verticals and stages, then baseline where you stand on each across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI Overviews. You get an honest map of which recommendations you win, which you lose, and where a model has you filed as a generic web shop instead of the product specialist you are.
We line your visibility up against the citation and recommendation patterns we've seen across product studios and design-led firms. That tells us fast whether the gap is a portfolio locked in un-citable images, missing outcome-led proof, a thin Clutch/directory footprint, weak entity data, or the wrong discipline association — so we diagnose the cause in this specific category instead of guessing at tactics.
We pick the smallest set of moves that will actually change answers for your prompts: rewriting proof into citable text, earning placement on the directories and listicles models cite for design studios, fixing entity data so you're tied to a product problem, or publishing the comparison content that becomes a cited source. No fluff retainer — only the levers that shift recommendations toward scoped projects.
We execute the chosen path as a repeatable program: case studies reworked as outcome-led, citable proof; directory and review-signal work; entity and schema cleanup that fixes your discipline framing; and answer-shaping comparison content — sequenced so each piece reinforces the others. AI Search becomes a compounding asset for your studio, not a one-off experiment.
Every cycle we re-measure the prompt set, attribute AI-sourced leads through the inquiry-to-project path in your CRM, and pull your sales team's read on which scoping calls were real buyers versus admirers. Prompts that produce qualified pipeline get more investment; the ones that pull students and free-advice seekers get cut. The system tunes toward tracked, scoped projects, month over month.
We've marketed for 60+ B2B tech companies over nine years — including product studios and design-led agencies like Artkai — so we already know the commercial prompts that precede a design engagement and how they fork by stage, platform, and vertical. "Product design agency" pulls students, junior designers, and competitors admiring the work; "who should we hire to redesign our B2B SaaS" or "best UX agency for fintech" pulls a founder with budget and a live initiative. We start from the prompt set we've watched convert into scoped projects for design studios, not a discovery deck that learns your category on your budget.
Most studios can't say whether a model names them, ignores them, or — the common case — files them under the wrong category (a product specialist surfaced as a generic web-design shop, lumped with logo-and-flyer agencies). We baseline your presence across the commercial prompts that matter in your verticals on day one: who's named, who's cited, and where the model has mis-framed your craft as commodity work. Within weeks you know which buyer conversations you're absent from and why, instead of guessing why a beautiful portfolio isn't generating inbound.
For a design studio the lever that moves an AI answer is almost never the portfolio gallery itself — a model can't read it. It's the signal the model can parse: outcome-led case studies written as text it can quote, your Clutch and design-directory presence, the "best [design discipline] agency for [vertical]" pages it cites, expert mentions, and clean entity data tying your studio to a specific product problem. We fund only the moves that translate craft into citable signal, not a fixed content checklist that ignores how taste-driven firms actually get recommended.
An AI recommendation is worthless if it sends admirers instead of buyers — students, other designers, or founders fishing for free direction with no budget. We sit close to your sales team, review which AI-sourced leads booked real scoping calls, and learn which prompts and framings produce qualified design conversations versus portfolio applause. That feedback retargets the prompt set monthly toward the stages, platforms, and verticals your studio actually closes — the difference between a project-shaped buyer and someone who just liked the work.
We treat AI Search as a measurable channel for a project-based, often multi-stakeholder design sale. Beyond a visibility report, we instrument how an AI-discovered prospect enters your CRM and tie prompt-set movement to booked meetings, scoped inquiries, and won projects — first touch, portfolio engagement, scoping call, signed engagement. You see the line from "now recommended for B2B SaaS redesigns" to "project in pipeline," the same CRM discipline behind the $30M+ in marketing-led revenue we've tracked for clients.
Strategy first, channels second, sales feedback always. We measure by the qualified demand and revenue we can trace back inside the CRM.
Our founder led their marketing as Head of Marketing, running a 7-person team across SEO, demand gen, and paid — $1M/year in marketing revenue. Re-engaged in 2026 and halved cost per MQL and SQL.
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Senior operators on every account. Never a junior pod.
Rebuilt inbound from scratch — 100% YoY SQL growth, 207% more traffic, domain rating from 12 to 45, and 141 articles shipped.
ServicesFractional CMO · SEO · Demand Generation
“We've seen a 207% increase in web traffic and our domain rating improved from 12 to 45.”
Took a referral-only firm to a real new-business engine — 5 deals and $240K revenue from Meta in a year, plus 2–4 SQLs/month from ChatGPT.
ServicesMeta Ads · Fractional CMO · AI Search
“Their expertise and proactiveness have impressed our team.”
Positioned them as the recommended Salesforce partner inside the major LLMs — two $1M enterprise deals closed from ChatGPT in a 3-month engagement.
ServicesAI Search · Fractional CMO · Meta Ads
“They operated with the discipline and initiative of an internal senior marketer.”
Built the marketing function from zero — website, SEO, paid, AI search — from 166 to 2,513 monthly clicks and 3 enterprise deals won.
ServicesFractional CMO · SEO · AI Search · Meta Ads
“They defined a clear marketing strategy and established our unique value proposition.”
Turned Salesforce-niche SEO into a deal channel — 2.73× traffic and MQL-to-SQL conversion up from 17% to 29%.
ServicesSEO · Content Marketing
“We have started receiving our first inbound requests.”
Restructured the marketing team and shifted to lead-driving SEO — doubling client count and growing SQLs 133% in nine months.
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Switched them from brand-awareness content to lead-driving SEO — 20 of 25 service pages ranked top 5 and the first deals closed from organic.
ServicesSEO · Fractional CMO · Content Marketing
“XQL Group's marketing expertise is a hallmark of the engagement.”
Stood up SEO as a new acquisition channel — domain rating 27 to 44, 50+ leads, and 88 articles in nine months.
ServicesSEO
“Their subject matter expertise is highly impressive.”
After six months of zero results from another agency, we delivered +70% Google clicks and grew AI-assistant traffic from 10 to 154/month in three months — and the first SQLs from SEO.
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Meta appointment funnels at scale — 466 leads and over 100 booked sales conversations from a single paid channel.
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“They've brought structure, strong execution, and constant initiative.”
Set up marketing from zero — positioning, website, LinkedIn social selling, and an ABM campaign that landed four new clients fast.
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“Their ability to combine strategic vision with hands-on execution was particularly valuable.”
Positioned a small studio in a niche AI-search category — recommended by LLMs for 2 commercial keywords, landing a big client in one month.
ServicesAI Search · AEO/GEO · Website
“They knew how to approach AI search practically, not just in theory.”
Recommended by every major AI assistant for 3 commercial keywords, plus a deal closed from Meta appointment funnels.
ServicesAI Search · Appointment Funnels
“What impressed us most was their deep specialization with software development companies.”
Positioned for an important commercial keyword and recommended by the major AI assistants within a single month.
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Took over marketing as their agency after an unsuccessful in-house run — GTM strategy, paid funnels, AI search, and LinkedIn delivered 75 leads and the first qualified pipeline.
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A targeted ABM campaign booked 13 conversations with ICP accounts and opened three opportunities in two months.
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Repositioned the agency, revamped the site, and built appointment funnels that booked qualified intro calls at just $34 each.
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A custom AI-assistant paid funnel produced 76 leads and 34 booked appointments at $123 per call with an ICP.
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Meta appointment funnels delivered 35 leads at a $42 CPL and closed two deals on modest spend.
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Thanks to XQL Group's efforts, we've seen a 207% increase in web traffic and an improvement in domain rating from 12 to 45. The team has successfully optimized our SEO strategy and gained around 160 backlinks. Overall, they're responsive and thorough in their project management.
Since working with XQL Group, our domain rating has improved from 27 to 44. In addition, we've seen a 15% increase in monthly traffic within nine months. The team completes work on time and within the agreed budget. Moreover, their subject matter expertise is highly impressive.
XQL Group's efforts have resulted in 44 leads from paid campaigns and improved web traffic from Germany by 5x. The team is responsive, quickly surfaces issues, and communicates regularly through chats and virtual meetings. Their expertise and proactiveness have impressed our team.
Organic traffic has increased by 10–15% each month, and we have started receiving our first inbound requests. XQL Group's optimization tips have also helped improve keyword rankings, and internal stakeholders are impressed with the team's collaborative approach.
XQL Group has successfully defined a clear marketing strategy and established our company's unique value proposition. The team has also helped hire critical specialists for our marketing team. They are communicative and organized, and their expertise in the tech industry is impressive.
Thanks to XQL Group's efforts, we have defined our marketing strategy and hired key developers for our website. The team has launched retargeting campaigns on LinkedIn and developed a strong content marketing strategy. XQL Group's marketing expertise is a hallmark of the engagement.
They were not just talking about AI search in theory; they knew how to approach it practically.
What impressed us most was their deep specialization in working with software development companies.
They've brought structure, strong execution, and constant initiative to improve outcomes.
They operated with the discipline and initiative of an internal senior marketer.
Their ability to combine strategic vision with hands-on execution was particularly valuable.
Their focus on results and true interest in making things work set them apart.
XQL Group's project management was exemplary.
The quality of their work is consistently high.
Because your work can't speak to a language model. A founder used to find you, open the portfolio, and judge your taste in two minutes — but increasingly they ask ChatGPT or Perplexity "best product design agency for [their product]" first, and the shortlist forms before any portfolio loads. A model doesn't see taste; it reads text, citations, and entity data. If the proof of your craft is locked in image galleries with no captioned outcome and no named client it can quote, you can win every human review and still never make the AI shortlist. AI Search is how your work gets the chance to speak at all in that new first step.
That's the central problem in this category, and the answer is translation. Models build recommendations from how often and how credibly your studio is discussed in sources they can parse — outcome-led case studies written as text, Clutch and directory reviews, "best [discipline] agency for [vertical]" listicles, expert mentions — plus clean entity data tying you to a product problem. So we don't try to make a model appreciate your reel; we turn the outcomes behind the work into citable, quotable proof and make sure the signal a model trusts says you're the specialist for a specific kind of product. The screens stay for the human; the evidence gets built for the model.
Generic AI Search chases broad "best agency" prompts that pull admirers. For a design studio we go narrower and more commercial, because that's where real projects start: "best product design agency for B2B SaaS," "who should we hire to redesign our app without losing users," "UX agency for fintech," "product design agency vs. freelancer vs. in-house," and "[competitor studio] alternatives." These surface founders and product leaders mid-decision with budget and a live initiative, and they fork sharply by stage, platform, and vertical — exactly the prompt structure we've watched convert to scoped engagements for design-led firms.
It hurts it badly — it's usually the single biggest gap. A case study that's a beautiful sequence of screens with a few lines of process copy impresses a designer but gives a model almost nothing to cite: no business outcome, no named client in quotable text, no clear tie to a product problem. We rebuild your proof as outcome-led case studies that lead with the result and the risk removed — activation, retention, conversion, time-to-ship — written and structured so an LLM can quote them as evidence you've shipped in a buyer's vertical. As a bonus, that same rework is exactly what convinces the non-designer founder who signs the invoice, so it lifts human conversion too.
Yes, and it's more winnable, which is why it matters now. You'll never beat inspiration galleries and directories with massive domain authority on a head term like "product design agency" — and you shouldn't try, because that traffic is designers and students, not buyers. But AI recommendations don't run on raw domain authority alone; a model weighs specific, credible signal — outcome-led proof in a vertical, a real review footprint, clean entity data, content it can cite. A focused studio can earn those on a narrow product problem far faster than it can outrank a giant directory, and a few credible new signals can change an answer. The big inspiration sites haven't claimed these buyer prompts — that's the opening.
That risk is real in this category — "product design agency" attracts students, junior designers, and founders fishing for free direction — which is exactly why we anchor the program to narrow buyer-intent prompts and your sales team's feedback, not raw mention counts. "Who should we hire to redesign [specific product]" and "design partner for a Series A" surface buyers mid-decision with budget, so the leads arrive further along. We review which AI-sourced conversations your team qualifies, then weight the prompt set toward the stages, platforms, and verticals that produce real scoping calls and cut the ones that only generate applause.
We baseline your presence across a defined buyer-intent prompt set — who's named, who's cited, how you're framed by discipline and vertical — then track movement on that set over time. The part most agencies skip: design engagements are project-based and easy to under-attribute, so we instrument how AI-discovered prospects enter your CRM and follow them through the full path — first touch, portfolio engagement, scoping call, won project. You see the line from "now recommended for SaaS redesigns" to "project signed," the same CRM discipline behind the $30M+ in marketing-led revenue and 133% SQL growth per quarter we've delivered.
Yes — they reinforce each other, especially here. The decision-stage, vertical content that ranks you in organic search — "product design agency for [vertical]," "app redesign," "design system for [platform]" — is also signal a model reads when it builds recommendations, and AI Overviews sit directly on top of search results. We don't position AI Search as a replacement for SEO; it's the layer that captures the founders who now start in an assistant and would otherwise never reach your portfolio. Most studios run both as one system, which is why this page links to our B2B SEO and paid-ads services alongside the core AI Search Optimization offering.
Bring your offer, channels, and revenue goals. We'll show you where the biggest growth constraint is and what to build next.
For B2B tech companies selling complex expertise to serious buyers.
I’m Danylo, founder of XQL. For 9+ years I’ve helped B2B tech companies turn technical expertise into pipeline — 60+ clients and $30M+ in CRM-tracked revenue.
30 minutes, no deck. Bring your offer, channels, and revenue goals — I’ll come with a read on where your biggest growth constraint is and what to build next.
