Yesterday, I got an email from a client celebrating, “I just got a new lead from Claude who was a perfect fit and signed on right away,” and I jokingly replied, “Of course your perfect client came from Claude.”
She asked the obvious follow-up question: “What do you mean? How are people searching differently on Claude than other platforms?”
Most people treat these platforms as interchangeable. A lead is a lead, and it’s just exciting to get that right fit client.
But there’s actually something interesting happening at a deeper level. Where a client finds you—especially in the age of AI-assisted search—tells you two critical things:
- What kind of content you’re actually producing (whether you meant to or not)
- What stage of thinking that client was in when they discovered you
And those two things are tightly linked.
AI tools aren’t just search engines. They’re sense-making environments.
The mistake most marketers make is assuming all AI discovery works like Google with a chat box bolted on … but that’s not accurate. Different AI tools attract people at different points in their thinking process. Not their funnel. Their thinking.
This isn’t about ranking platforms from ‘better’ to ‘worse.’ It’s about recognizing that different tools attract people at different stages of thinking—and your content will naturally surface where it fits.
Think of it this way: different AI tools are like different podcast hosts, each creating a unique conversational environment. And the content they surface needs to match the show’s format—not because of SEO tricks, but because of tone, depth, and where the listener’s head is at when they tune in.
If you listen closely, the tool a client used is telling you:
- how much language they had for the problem
- how certain they were that a problem even existed
- how much trust they were outsourcing to the system
- how close they were to making a decision
Let’s break down what your client’s tool selection says about what they’re looking for:
“I found you on ChatGPT”
This is Good Hang with Amy Poehler.
There’s a reason that Amy won the inaugural Golden Globe for podcasts, and it’s because the show is an easy listen–you get thoughtful conversation and funny moments that cover a broad range, without feeling judgmental.
People who search on ChatGPT aren’t comparison shopper. This is someone ready to listen, maybe even exploring or diagnosing a problem.
Chances are, they didn’t start the conversation by searching for a provider. They were trying to understand what was wrong—or whether anything was wrong at all.
ChatGPT search aren’t just people typing keywords hoping for an exact match. These are the people who say things like, “I didn’t know how to Google this.”
How i’ve used ChatGPT recently
Here’s a recent example from my ChatGPT conversations: “My hair is getting so long (mid-back) that when I try to style it, the ends just hang limply. Before I trim them off, any recommendations to salvage them and improve the overall strength of my hair? Would deep conditioning or protein treatment help?”
Notice that I wasn’t saying, “give me product recommendations.” The conversation eventually went there, but my first stage was, “I have a problem, is it salvageable?” Then it asked me questions about my hair’s thickness, damage from bleach or color treatment, regular hair care routine, etc. before making any product recommendations.
ChatGPT did the diagnostic work first before it shared recommendations, so that when I got to Sephora I could go straight to the Olaplex section.
What showing up on ChatGPT says about your content
If ChatGPT surfaced you, your content likely explains why things work (or don’t), not just how. It names patterns people recognize emotionally before they recognize them intellectually. It provides framing, not just tactics. It holds together as a coherent way of thinking.
ChatGPT doesn’t just retrieve pages. It reconstructs explanations. If your work shows up there, it’s because your thinking fits cleanly inside a larger mental model—and helps people build language for something they couldn’t quite articulate on their own.
What “I found you on ChatGPT” says about the client
This client has high tolerance for ambiguity. They’re early in their awareness journey. They value understanding before action. They’re looking for orientation, not instructions.
These are often slower buyers—and far better ones.
“I found you on Claude”
This is Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us.
This one tends to come with a particular tone: Thoughtful, intentional, sometimes a little relieved.
Claude users tend to be burned by hype, skeptical of oversimplification, and genuinely interested in tradeoffs and consequences. They’re not looking for the loudest answer—they’re looking for the most careful one.
How I’ve used Claude recently
I had already developed my BEACON Framework and created a slide deck to explain it, but next month I’m presenting to two different audiences—SEO practitioners at one summit and web designers at another.
I uploaded my slide deck to Claude and asked: ‘How should I adjust the messaging and emphasis for these two groups? What will land differently?’
Claude’s deep reasoning & linguistic skills were the best fit to help me thinking through how the same ideas would resonate differently based on who was listening, then go page-by-page through my slide deck to say, “here’s language that would be more relevant to web designers.”
What showing up on Claude says about your content
If Claude surfaces you, your content likely avoids exaggeration and explains consequences alongside benefits. It sounds human, not optimized. It demonstrates judgment rather than certainty. It acknowledges what you don’t know as readily as what you do.
Claude is selective. It won’t amplify something just because it’s published recently or lots of people have linked to it. If you’re showing up here, you’ve earned it through intellectual integrity, not volume.
What “I found you on Claude” says about the client
This client cares how you think, not just what you sell. They value discernment over speed. They’re often highly aligned once they commit, but they need more signal upfront to get there.
They’re not shopping. They’re choosing.
“I found you on Perplexity”
This is The Tim Ferriss Show.
This show is efficient and tactical. Guest shows up with their systems ready to explain, and Tim wants specific examples, data points, things listeners can use. These show notes are heavy on citations because both the hosts and the listener say, “Give me the frameworks and receipts.”
These clients already know what kind of problem they have. Now they want to compare approaches, validate assumptions, and see receipts.
How I’ve used Perplexity recently
Before Jessica and I recorded the recent Aggressively Human episode about the Expert’s Paradox, I searched on Perplexity to understand how other experts are using the term and which relevant examples they provided. I didn’t want to work just off my experience, but also to ground myself in the realities of the industry by finding the links to their work.
What showing up in Perplexity says about your content
If Perplexity surfaced you, your content is quotable, specific, and clearly structured. You’ve probably used examples, data points, or frameworks that can be cited. Perplexity isn’t looking for a guide to help someone think—it’s looking for a reference to help someone decide.
You are being treated as a source, not a sage.
What “I found you on Perplexity” says about the client
This client is solution-aware and actively evaluating options. They want proof and comparison. They’re in decision-support mode, not exploration mode. They’re closer to action than discovery—and they’re efficient about getting there.
“I found you on Google / Gemini”
This is Good Morning America.
Google still matters—just not in the same way it used to.
By the time someone searches your brand, your service, or a tightly defined solution, they’re usually past diagnosis. They’re not trying to understand the problem. They’re confirming you exist and checking whether you’re credible.
My recent Google search
While working on this post, Google was my go-to platform for a citation about Amy Poehler’s Golden Globes win. I already knew about the win, but I used Google to verify that I got the exact award + category name correct (I accidentally typed “Emmy”) and because the news was so time-sensitive that it may not show up on the other platforms quite yet.
What showing up on Google says about your content
If Google is surfacing you, your content is crawlable, structured, and aligned with known categories. You’ve done the work of being findable in traditional ways—clear headlines, semantic markup, the basics of discoverability.
You fit into boxes people already understand.
What “I found you on Google” says about the client
Google still matters because it sits between private sense-making and public action. People think with AI in private. They use Google when they’re ready to act in public—when the decision needs to be defensible, repeatable, and real.
Google is slowly becoming the confirmation layer, not the discovery layer. Searchers are validating, not exploring.
They’ve already decided on the category. Now they’re deciding on you.
How the tool signals what outcome your client is trying to achieve
Many modern client journeys look like this:
ChatGPT → “What is going on?”
Perplexity → “What are my options?”
Google → “Who do I hire?”
The path isn’t linear—not everyone uses multiple tools like this. But the cognitive progression from “I don’t understand” to “what should I do” to “who should I hire” usually is.
If you only optimize for step three, you never influence how the problem gets defined in the first place.And whoever defines the problem usually quietly wins the sale.
ChatGPT helped me diagnose my dry hair and gave me the comparisons, so by the time I got to Google, my decision wasn’t which product to buy, it was whether to order online or visit the store.
Why AI platform selection matters more than traffic attribution
When someone tells you where they found you, they’re not just telling you how they arrived. They’re telling you:
- how much language they had
- how much trust they were outsourcing
- how much agency they wanted
- how complex they believed the problem to be
That’s a behavioral signal—not a vanity metric.
It tells you what your content is actually doing in the world, regardless of what you intended it to do.
What this means for your content strategy
If your clients keep finding you via reasoning-first tools like ChatGPT or Claude, your edge isn’t volume. It’s clarity. You’re not just being discovered—you’re being used to think, to diagnose, to orient. That’s harder to manufacture than rankings. And it’s a lot harder to replace.
If you’re showing up in Perplexity or Google, you’ve done the foundational work of being findable and structured. Now the question is: are you also influencing how people think about the problem before they start comparing solutions? Or are you only entering the conversation once they’ve already decided what they need?
And if you’re not showing up anywhere, it usually means one of three things:
- Your content isn’t explaining why (reasoning tools won’t surface you)
- It’s not structured enough to cite (citation tools won’t trust you)
- AI systems can’t figure out what you’re actually known for (entity recognition problem)
The fix isn’t more content. It’s more strategic content that claims clear semantic territory.
Ready to become findable, quotable, and recommendable in AI search?
The Unmistakable Authority Blueprint helps you claim your semantic territory and build the authority signals AI systems actually recognize—without keyword research, without chasing algorithms, and without becoming someone you’re not.
