Growth idea action plan
Use firewall logs to measure AI fetches (AEO) beyond clicks
Track AI discoverability by looking for real-time bot fetches (e.g. ChatGPT-User, Perplexity, Microsoft/Azure hosts) in firewall logs so you can see whether LLMs are pulling your pages even when click-through is near zero.
Why this can grow a startup
AEO is often "zero-click". If you only watch GA4 referrers, you will think nothing is happening while your pages are being fetched to answer live user prompts. Bot fetch logs are a leading indicator: they tell you what content is being retrieved, how often, and when changes in structure or schema actually increase retrieval. That makes it easier to iterate on AI search performance without waiting for traditional SEO lag.
Ian's take
From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. For SEO and AI search, I care less about clever keyword tricks and more about clarity. A buyer, crawler, or answer engine should quickly understand who this is for, why it works, what proof backs it, and what page deserves to be cited. I would run it small enough to learn quickly, then only scale the parts that real users repeat, save, reply to, or buy from. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.
Action plan
- Define one narrow startup segment where use firewall logs to measure ai fetches (aeo) beyond clicks can create a measurable lift.
- Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the AI Search and SEO channel.
- Use the evidence from reddit.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
- Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
- Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.
Source-backed example
r/SaaS builder: after scaling a programmatic site to 1,000+ pages, they used Vercel firewall logs to spot ~398 ChatGPT-User fetches, ~114 Perplexity hits, and ~400 Microsoft/Azure fetches in an ~8-hour window, even while GA4 showed almost no chatgpt.com click-through. They used fetch volume + Copilot citations as the progress metric.
Source: reddit.com
Last checked: May 25, 2026
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