Watch my Google results and tell me if they slip
Search is your spot on the high street: it decides who walks past the window at all. Positions move quietly - nobody emails you when a page slips from third to eighth for the search that feeds your enquiries; the enquiries just thin out. This job is that missing email.
What the note covers
- Searches, not jargon. The actual phrases people use, and whether your site is gaining or losing ground on each - in plain words, not analytics-speak.
- The pages behind them. When a search slips, the page responsible is named, with the likely reason and a suggested fix.
- The AI stream. Visitors sent by AI assistants, tracked as its own line - small for most sites today, growing for nearly all of them.
Setting it up
Run the brief once in a chat with Bernard for today's picture, then make it a standing job as described in Put an AI agent to work on my business. Monthly suits most sites - search moves slowly, and a monthly note stays news rather than noise. Pair it with Remind me when my website content is getting stale: found pages and fresh pages are the same battle from two sides.
The prompt
“Watch my search results. Each [month], tell me which searches my site is gaining or losing ground on, which pages slipped, and how many visitors arrived from AI assistants like ChatGPT. When something slips, suggest the most likely fix.”
Press Copy, then paste it into your AI and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard first - a one-time setup in bernard → your site → Use your own AI.
Questions people ask
- How do I know if my Google ranking dropped?
- Usually you find out weeks late, when the visits are already gone. This brief has Bernard compare your search picture window on window, so a slip is named while it is one page and one search, not a trend.
- What can actually be done when a page slips?
- Often something specific: a page that lost its clear answer to the question people search, a date that makes it look abandoned, a competitor simply answering better. The note arrives with the likely cause and a suggested change - which is prepared as a draft for your approval if you want it made.
- Why do you mention AI assistants?
- A growing share of visitors arrives from ChatGPT, Claude and the like rather than a results page. The note tracks that stream separately, because the fixes that help there are not always the classic search fixes.
- Does this need anything set up first?
- Your site needs analytics turned on - without it there is no search data to read, and the note will tell you so rather than guessing.