How an Australian promotional products supplier became a source AI answers link to 1,861 times

Over the past 12 months, an Australian supplier of custom promotional products has lifted its top-5 Google rankings by 73%. AI answers in Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity now link to it as a source 1,861 times.

RESULTS AT A GLANCE

Between October 2025 and October 2026 the supplier went from 2,598 to 4,501 top-5 Google positions in Australia, and Google’s AI Overviews now link to its pages for 1,536 different searches.

AI-search tracking was not in place in October 2025, so AI figures are shown as they stand today.

THE CHALLENGE

The client is an Australian-owned online supplier of custom printed promotional products: pens, drinkware, stubby holders, notepads, bags and giveaways for businesses and events. It has worked with SEOValley for several years.

In late 2024 the site reached a peak of more than 5,000 top-5 Google positions. Through the first half of 2025 that fell back to around 2,100. By October 2025 it had steadied at 2,598, and the task was to win those positions back and build on them.

At the same time, more buyers were asking AI tools where to order branded merchandise and how to run a giveaway. The goal was to rank for the products and questions buyers search for, and to be the source AI answers link to.

WHAT WE DID

We ran the same structured monthly SEO programme every month, with each task logged and reported.

1. Content buyers actually search for. Four articles and five blogs every month, planned around real buyer questions: how to run a giveaway, how to keep drinks cold, how to customise mugs and pens.
2. Content promotion. Every new article and blog was promoted on the site and off it, so new pages were found and linked to quickly.
3. Authority building. Monthly link outreach, competitor link research, business profiles and local listings, so other sites point to the client as a trusted supplier.
4. Search Console checks. Monthly Search Console reviews to catch indexing and performance problems early.
5. Monthly measurement. Traffic, ranking and link-building reports every month, with the next month’s plan adjusted to what was working.

GOOGLE RANKINGS

SE Ranking organic history, Australian database, October 2024 to October 2026.

After falling from the late-2024 peak, rankings recovered steadily through 2026, with the biggest gains from June onwards.

CITED BY AI ENGINES

AI answers in Australia link to the supplier’s site 1,861 times, almost all of them in Google’s AI Overviews.

These are real buyer questions where an AI answer links to the client as a source:

• Google AI Overviews: “custom promotional products”, “personalised promotional products” and “custom promotional merchandise” link to the client’s promotional products range.
• ChatGPT: “How to order branded merchandise for events?” names the client among the Australian suppliers to contact, for fast-turnaround orders.
• Google AI Mode: “How to customize pens?” names the client first among Australian suppliers for bulk printed pens.
• Perplexity: “How to do a giveaway?” and “What is a stubby holder?” cite the client’s blog guides.

The blogs written for buyer questions are now the pages AI answers quote, and they lead readers back to the products.

SERVICES APPLIED

• Keyword and topic research for monthly content
• Content writing: four articles and five blogs a month
• On-site and off-site content promotion
• Link acquisition, competitor link research, business and local listings
• Monthly Search Console review
• Monthly traffic, ranking and link-building reporting

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Buyers increasingly get their shortlist from an AI answer, not a page of blue links. The businesses that answers quote are the ones that rank for real buyer questions, publish clear, useful content and are trusted by other sites.

That is the same work we did here, and we run it for clients in Australia, the UK, the US, the Middle East and Asia. Contact us and we will show you where your business appears in AI answers today, and where your competitors are cited instead.

SOURCES AND HOW WE MEASURED

• Google rankings and estimated visits: SE Ranking organic history for the client’s domain, Australian database, monthly, October 2025 and October 2026. Estimated visits are SE Ranking’s estimate, not measured site traffic.
• Clicks from Google Search: the client’s Google Search Console, web search, June to September 2025 and June to September 2026 (the last four full months).
• AI citations: SE Ranking AI Search data for Australia (Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini), snapshot of 1 October 2026. Visits from AI answers are SE Ranking’s estimate.
• Work delivered: SEOValley’s monthly task lists and reports for the campaign.
• The client is not named, to protect their confidentiality. Details are available on request.