TKBS portfolio · Sample audit. Alder Falls Garden Center is a fictional business in a fictional town. The checks are the ones we run for real clients; every number here is illustrative.

SEOSearch
64/100
Moderate

Shows up for its own name and one local phrase. Invisible for most of what people actually type when they need a garden center.

AEOAnswer engines
31/100
Weak

Google's AI answers and featured snippets cite a big-box chain and a Detroit blog for the planting questions this business could own.

GEOAI assistants
22/100
Weak

ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini did not name the business once across twelve local questions, and one described it from a stale listing.

Alder Falls Garden CenterAlder Falls, Michigan · zone 6a · audited March 2026

What we checked

  • Google Business Profile: category, hours, photos, posts, review replies
  • Local pack results from Alder Falls, Cedar Lake and Marlow
  • Every page's title, heading, copy and structured data
  • Phone speed and layout on a mid-range Android
  • Featured snippets and AI Overviews for 24 seasonal questions
  • Twelve local questions put to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini
  • Directory listings: Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing Places, the chamber
  • robots.txt and whether AI crawlers can read the site
SEO

Where the business shows up in Google today, on the map and in the results.

High

The Business Profile is the front door, and it is half closed

What we saw
41 reviews at 4.7 stars, but the last owner reply is 14 months old. Sunday hours are wrong, there has been no post since fall 2024, and the category is "Store" rather than "Garden center".
Why it matters
For a garden center the map pack decides most "near me" searches before anyone reaches the website.
The fix
Correct the category and hours, reply to the last 20 reviews, add product categories (annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, bulk mulch), and post once a week through the season.
High

One page trying to rank for everything

What we saw
The home page is the only page about plants. There is no page per department, and 9 of 14 pages share the title "Alder Falls Garden Center | Home".
Why it matters
Google ranks pages, not businesses. A search for "bulk mulch delivery Alder Falls" has nothing here to land on.
The fix
A page per department with real inventory notes and a unique title, plus a line about which towns it serves.
Medium

The phone experience is slow

What we saw
The largest content paint takes 4.8 seconds on a phone because the hero photo is 3.1 MB, and the page jumps when the hours banner loads late.
Why it matters
Most local searches happen on a phone, and a slow page loses the tap before it loses the ranking.
The fix
Resize and compress the hero, reserve space for the banner, and aim for under 2.5 seconds.
Low

Strong at home, absent next door

What we saw
Position 2 in the map pack for "garden center Alder Falls", but absent when the same search runs from Cedar Lake or Marlow, ten minutes away.
Why it matters
Those two towns are where the owner says half the regulars drive in from.
The fix
Service-area lines on the department pages, the service area set on the Business Profile, and a nudge for reviews that mention the town.
AEO

Answer engines

Whether Google's AI answers and featured snippets use this business as a source.

High

The questions people ask have no answers on the site

What we saw
"When to plant tomatoes in Michigan", "deer resistant perennials zone 6a" and "when to put down mulch" all trigger an AI answer. None cites a local source, and the site has no guide or FAQ content at all.
Why it matters
Answer engines quote the page that answers the question plainly. Right now that page belongs to a chain and a blog three counties away.
The fix
A zone 6a planting calendar with twelve short answers, one per question, written in the words people use.
High

Nothing on the site is machine-readable

What we saw
No LocalBusiness or GardenStore schema, hours and services only in the footer image, no FAQ markup.
Why it matters
Answer engines take structured facts first and guess from prose second.
The fix
GardenStore schema with hours, location and links to the profiles, and FAQPage markup on the calendar.
Medium

Reviews say the right things in the wrong place

What we saw
Reviewers keep mentioning "native plants" and "staff who actually know zone 6a". The site says neither.
Why it matters
That language is what people search for and what an answer engine looks for in a page.
The fix
Pull those phrases into headings and page copy where they are true.
GEO

AI assistants

What ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini say when someone asks them instead of Google.

High

Twelve questions, zero mentions

What we saw
Across three assistants and twelve questions such as "best garden center near Alder Falls" and "where to buy native perennials near Cedar Lake", the business was named 0 times out of 36 answers. A chain and two nurseries 25 minutes away were named instead.
Why it matters
Assistants recommend what they can describe. With no page stating what the business is, who it is for and where it serves, there is nothing to repeat.
The fix
An About page that states the facts plainly (founded, specialties, service area, what is different), and department pages that do the same.
Medium

When an assistant did describe it, it was wrong

What we saw
Asked directly, Perplexity said the business is closed Mondays and is "primarily a landscaping company", both taken from a 2021 directory listing.
Why it matters
Assistants lean on directories when the site itself is thin.
The fix
A sweep of Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing Places and the chamber listing, and a small llms.txt file with the current facts.
Low

AI crawlers are allowed in

What we saw
robots.txt does not block GPTBot, ClaudeBot or PerplexityBot.
Why it matters
Good. Nothing to change here, but it is easy to lose in a site rebuild.
The fix
Keep it that way, and check it again after any site change.

What to fix first

In the order we would do it: cheapest, highest-lift work first, and nothing that depends on something later in the list.

  1. 1

    Business Profile cleanup and a weekly post rhythm

    2 hours, then 20 minutes a weekLifts: Search and assistants

  2. 2

    GardenStore schema, hours and FAQ markup

    Half a dayLifts: Answer engines

  3. 3

    A page per department with unique titles

    2 daysLifts: Search

  4. 4

    Zone 6a planting calendar, twelve answers

    3 daysLifts: Answer engines and search

  5. 5

    Hero image and banner fix, under 2.5 seconds on a phone

    2 hoursLifts: Search

  6. 6

    An About page with the facts assistants repeat, plus llms.txt

    Half a dayLifts: Assistants

  7. 7

    Directory sweep: Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing Places, chamber

    2 hoursLifts: Assistants

  8. 8

    Service-area lines for Cedar Lake and Marlow

    1 dayLifts: Search

The ad plan the audit points to

Three stages across the season, each an A/B test of two angles, each landing on a page the audit says to build. Small budgets, until an angle earns the visit.

Stage 1Spring, four weeks

Store visits from people planning a garden

A

Michigan-grown perennials that survive a zone 6a winter

B

A free zone 6a planting calendar

Audience
Twelve miles around Alder Falls, plus Cedar Lake and Marlow
Landing pages
A sends to the new perennials page. B sends to the calendar.
What we measure
Cost per direction request, and calendar downloads
The rule
Starts only after fixes 1, 3 and 5. Nobody pays for clicks to a slow page.
Stage 2Late spring, six weeks

A second visit from people who already came

A

This weekend's container workshop

B

This week's arrivals

Audience
Calendar downloaders and site visitors from Stage 1
Landing pages
Both send to an events page with the week's arrivals below it.
What we measure
Event RSVPs and repeat direction requests
The rule
Uses whichever Stage 1 angle earned the cheaper visit for its look and voice.
Stage 3Fall, four weeks

Trees, shrubs and mums before the first frost

A

Why fall is the right time to plant a tree

B

Fall color, just arrived

Audience
Same area, plus everyone who visited in spring
Landing pages
A sends to the trees and shrubs page. B sends to a fall arrivals page.
What we measure
Cost per direction request against the spring number
The rule
A repeat of the spring test, so the winner is a pattern, not a fluke.

Where it should be in 90 days

We re-run the same checks after the fixes ship. The scores are the measure, not the goal; the goal is the phone ringing from Cedar Lake.

SEO
6478
out of 100, if the eight fixes ship
AEO
3155
out of 100, if the eight fixes ship
GEO
2245
out of 100, if the eight fixes ship

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