AI Search Visibili-Tea ☕
No. 2 · Nov 10
Spilling the tea on what AI tells your customers about you. One finding, every two weeks.
AI Search Visibili-Tea No. 2: the step before AI compares you
Hello, it's Golara
Hello again. This one is about reading.
Before you can compare two things, you have to be able to read them. This note is about that small first step, and ten running stores we looked at.
The tea: before it can compare you, it has to read
Before an agent can compare you, it has to read your basics.
Think of a friend you ask to compare two shops for you by phone.
The first shop has its delivery and return rules written on a sign in the window. Your friend reads them out in ten seconds.
The second shop keeps the same rules in a drawer that only opens after someone flips a switch. Your friend is not being unfair. They can only compare what they can read.
We looked at the public web pages of 10 independent running stores. Shipping terms were written as plain text on 3 of 10 of them. If you also count a standard policy page (we could check one for 5 of the 10), it was 4 of 10. On the rest, we didn't find them as written text, or they only appeared after the page loaded extra code.
We cannot tell you how any agent will choose. This only shows what a plain reader could find.
Behind the numbers
What this is. A convenience panel of 20 running stores, checked on Oct 28 and 29, using public pages only. The count here is for the 10 independents. No AI tool was asked anything for it, so it is not AI-answer data.
What counted. Shipping terms counted if they were written as text on the homepage, a page linked from its footer, or (for 5 of the stores) the platform's standard policy page. A page we could not read would be "can't tell", never "no". All 10 pages opened for us.
One limit. We read each page as plain text, without running scripts, so text that fills in later looks missing. Ten stores, one category, one week: an observation, not a rate for stores in general.
So, can a stranger read you?
A stranger, or a tool working for one, starts with what is written on your page. It is worth knowing what is written there.
Try it: open your homepage. Can you find your shipping and returns terms as written text within one click? Can you still read them in reader view, or with JavaScript off? Then ask one AI tool "What is [your business]'s return policy?" and compare its answer with your page. One answer is a spot check, not a diagnosis, so try a few questions your customers really ask.
Now tell me what it read
When you asked an AI tool about your own shipping or returns, did its answer match your page?
Email me at hello@envoyra.com with the question, the tool, and what it said. I read every one, and may share a few next time without names.
What I am still learning to read
Some things only get clear when you slow down and read them twice.
Slowly, and on purpose,
Golara Serio
Co-founder & CEO, Envoyra
AI Visibility Intelligence
P.S. If you're choosing an AI visibility tool, we made a one-page checklist that says when to pick someone else, us included: envoyra.com/resources
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