My dog made a mess in the hallway this week (I'll spare you the details).
By Andrewbailiff ยท July 28, 2026 ยท Curated by George's Blog
My dog made a mess in the hallway this week (I'll spare you the details).
But I asked AI for some product recommendations. Then, for fun, I asked four more.
Same question, word for word: best dog probiotic for a sudden sensitive stomach ๐ฌ
I expected a little nuance. That isn't what I got.
๐๐ต๐ฎ๐๐๐ฃ๐ง: Nutramax Proviable (then talked itself into FortiFlora when I pushed)
๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐๐: Purina FortiFlora
๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ: Purina FortiFlora
๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ: Purina FortiFlora
๐๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป'๐ ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ด: Purina FortiFlora. "Vet's #1 Recommended," add-to-cart button included.
An entire category. One unanimous winner.
๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐
I asked each AI WHY. The sources that created the winner:
๐น ๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ'๐ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฏ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ: Perplexity told me straight out it leaned on "FortiFlora's own product information."
๐น ๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ'๐ ๐๐ฒ๐-๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ต๐๐ฏ: cited 3 times by Gemini
๐น ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐: cited by nearly all of them
๐น And a pile of blogs you've never heard of: iHeartDogs, PawOrigins, HappyDogGut
Not review count. No bestseller rank. Not ad spend or conversion rate.
The brand that published the clinical content became the answer everywhere. And it could come from their own outlets.
And where do the AIs send you to buy? PetSmart. Walmart. Petco.
Amazon got ONE mention across the four outside assistants. The listing you've spent years optimizing is potentially invisible in this funnel.
One more thing. In Amazon's AI, a brand appeared in the answer with a "Sponsored" tag.
Sponsored placements inside AI conversations are live, which is a whole other conversation.
The old playbook: win the search results page.
The new one: win the citations, or buy the seat while you still can.
Run this for your category.
Five AIs, one key question, ten minutes. If they all crown a brand and it isn't yours, you didn't lose a ranking fight. You lost a citation fight you didn't know was happening.
(The dog is fine. The hallway has seen things.)
#ai #ecommerce #marketing #amazonads