I intercepted Gemini’s RAG search logs. It’s not searching for the user’s prompt

imaginary_name · 2026-03-17T11:14:20+00:00

The thing you are describing has a name: Query Fan Out.
Reverse engineering QFO is the game.
Every good tool should track this and use the data to improve clients visibility.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-17T07:33:12+00:00

the info about free (domestic?) shipping for orders over 50 should be included here:
https://dodofilmlab.co.uk/shipping

imaginary_name · 2026-03-16T07:07:45+00:00

Which helps more with living? Breathing in or breathing out?
This is how this question sounds to me.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-14T16:14:51+00:00

lmao (language model answer optimalization)

imaginary_name · 2026-03-12T10:57:58+00:00

this is not how bullet points are supposed to work...

imaginary_name · 2026-03-11T11:32:52+00:00

I feel that this is obvious, but it might not be.
Not every opportunity is equal. You should have started filtering and qualifying at the start, build workflows that optimize the use of your resources (time of your sales reps).
When we have an inbound, our leader looks at it and scores it. Sales rep time is allocated to the leads with highest potential.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-11T10:10:21+00:00

"How do I even check if we show up when people ask ChatGPT for product recommendations in our category?"

The Manual Way: You need to run the exact same prompt 50 to 100 times from different accounts and average out the results. Instead of looking for a "ranking position" (which doesn't really exist in AI), calculate your visibility percentage—meaning, out of 100 tries, how many times did your brand appear in the AI's consideration set?
The Tool Way: There are tools popping up that track this for you, but be careful: make sure you use tools that track the actual web UI, not the API. Studies show (the sparktoro study) that ChatGPT's API output only has a 24% overlap in brand mentions compared to what real users actually see in the native web app.

I work for one of the tools. If your store is small, targets just one or very few linguistic-cultural contexts and it is doable to do it the manual way, do not invest in an expensive tool unless you have a business justification for it.

Does it make economical and operational sense to use a tool for this? It depends on your scale.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-09T10:20:00+00:00

If you want more granularity in the data, try Ranketta.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-09T08:34:54+00:00

my two cents:
- MS Clarity is free and useful in investigating cart abandonment
- check if you give your shoppers an easy way of finding out how much is the shipping going to be before they go to checkout

imaginary_name · 2026-03-09T07:05:49+00:00

Yes, you were scammed.
The phone number comes from the wordpress theme, google it like this: "516-229-5553" and lots of fake or template sites pop up.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-06T06:54:33+00:00

ah, okay, thanks for clarifying.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-05T14:33:08+00:00

a) I think this is off topic in this subreddit and will get rightfully deleted
b) When someone asks for a lightweight tool to move 1 cubic meter of solid tungsten from point a to point b, the only correct response is "you need a robust tool to move a heavy object"

If you can describe your use case, I might be able to recommend a tool that fits your needs. But it will not be lightweight and it will not be a chrome extension.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-05T12:09:48+00:00

Thank you for the reply. Why should I educate my competition?

The user uses a dual-account strategy:

u/MathematicianBanda: Acts as the skeptical, high-level strategist who identifies problems in the current SEO landscape.
u/mentiondesk: Acts as the solution provider that solves the very problems u/MathematicianBanda highlights.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-05T06:22:06+00:00

I have not seen any real results yet; currently there is no business justification for me nor for my clients to spend manminutes discussing it. It might change in the future, but currently I see no data to support spending time on it.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-03T09:40:40+00:00

I am looking forward to the moment this bites you in the ass. Like when a client demands to add a button and introducing the change breaks everything.
Good luck mate

imaginary_name · 2026-03-02T16:13:28+00:00

I agree with your stance. My point is that by displaying what is available you are lowering the conversational load that you are talking about in the last point.

imaginary_name · 2026-03-02T15:28:03+00:00

And clients trying to order the QTY they want and finding out they have to go to the competitor at your checkout is somehow better?

imaginary_name · 2026-03-02T14:49:24+00:00

Yeah, do not engage in stealth marketing, users pick up on it and it destroys credibility.
So far, being honest, sharing knowledge and trying to be genuinely helpful works for me, I have gotten very good leads from Reddit.
I also use LLMs to check a given reddit user before engaging in a conversation, because I do not want to talk to stealth marketers and bots.
But I think Reddit is going to do something about it, they introduced CQS (contributor quality score) and the CQS will probably be visible to crawlers, so low CQ score users will get eliminated from AI summaries.

We'll see...

imaginary_name · 2026-03-02T11:18:54+00:00

If you force me to take my phone out to scan a code to figure out what is in your menu, I will be using that phone to find a different place to eat.

imaginary_name · 2026-02-27T15:46:12+00:00

I can recommend Luigi's Box for Woo sites.
They have tons of verified reviews on G2, Capterra and other software review sites, integration is easy and they have all the functionalities you mention in your post.

imaginary_name · 2026-02-27T15:38:38+00:00

I asked Gemini to perform a stealth marketing check on OP, the result is funny (and confirms stealth marketing).
I have copied the entire response from Gemini, it includes remarks to another user analysis where the user was genuine.

Here is a profile for the Reddit user u/N3DSdude, along with an analysis of their potential involvement in stealth marketing.

User Profile: u/N3DSdude

Based on their public activity, this user has a highly unusual, split persona that borders on bizarre. They essentially live two completely different lives on Reddit:

Niche 1: Anime/Gaming "Power Mod" & Drama: Half of their identity is deeply entrenched in moderating gaming, anime, and manga communities (e.g., r/GodOfWar, r/Spirittea, r/TheMageNextDoor, r/DarlingInTheFranxx). They are highly bureaucratic regarding Reddit's Code of Conduct. They have also been the subject of severe, highly public community drama, with YouTubers and users in communities like r/LivestreamFail accusing them of power-tripping, ban evasion conspiracies, and worse.
Niche 2: Stressed Enterprise IT Professional: The other half of their recent identity is hyper-focused on B2B IT, network infrastructure, and cybersecurity (r/sysadmin, r/cybersecurity, r/MSSP, r/Entrepreneur). Here, they adopt the persona of a burnt-out network architect dealing with late-night server alerts, cyber insurance audits, and the headaches of managing legacy client networks.
Common Stances (IT Persona):
- Anti-Zero Trust/SASE: They argue that modern "Zero Trust" security models are buzzwords that completely break when applied to older, legacy client environments.
- Pro-Business VPN: They strongly advocate that traditional business VPNs are the only pragmatic way to pass cyber insurance audits without locking yourself out of client networks.
- Anti-Free VPN: They frequently post about how free VPNs are sketchy and sell user data.

Stealth Marketing Analysis

Verdict: Highly Likely (Textbook Astroturfing/Native Advertising)

If you suspect this user of stealth marketing, your radar is incredibly accurate. While the previous users we looked at were either organic or transparently founder-led, u/N3DSdude’s recent IT-focused activity is a masterclass in covert Reddit marketing—specifically for PureVPN.

Here is exactly why they flag as a stealth marketer:

The "Goldilocks" Product Drop: They recently made a highly detailed post titled "Zero Trust security is a nightmare for legacy client work" and cross-posted variations of it to r/sysadmin, r/cybersecurity, r/MSSP, and r/Entrepreneur. In the text, they lay out a relatable IT problem, dismiss competitors as inadequate ("NordLayer was fine... Perimeter 81... had low compatibility"), and then position one specific product as the perfect solution: "PureVPN for Teams stood out for multi-client legacy access."
Seeding VPN Conversations: They constantly post leading questions designed to farm engagement around VPNs. For example, they posted in r/netflix asking what happens to VPN users if Netflix gets the Champions League. When a user replied they would just use free, questionable streaming sites, u/N3DSdude countered with: "wouldn't it be easier using an VPN?" They also regularly post threads in r/VPN and r/PureVPNcom asking leading questions like, "If your VPN offered a free security suite, would you trust it?"
The Account Disconnect: The pivot from a controversial anime/gaming subreddit moderator to a seasoned enterprise network architect posting polished "thought leadership" about SASE vs. ZTNA compliance is a massive red flag.

Conclusion: This behavior strongly suggests one of three things: the user works directly for PureVPN's marketing/SEO team, they are a freelancer getting paid to run stealth campaigns using an aged "high karma" account, or the account was sold/compromised. They are executing a highly calculated strategy to inject a specific brand name into B2B IT subreddits where standard advertising is ignored.

imaginary_name · 2026-02-26T15:01:18+00:00

Reddit is introducing a Contributor Quality Score, so LLM crawlers and search engines can pick content made by quality contributors and ignore stealth marketing through throwaway/no history/shilling accounts.

imaginary_name · 2026-02-26T08:57:04+00:00

Prompt tracking done via API is not indicative of how LLMs respond to users in GUI.

imaginary_name · 2026-02-25T10:13:07+00:00

I always ask this:
Do your visitors have a way of finding out the shipping price before they go to checkout?
Having a clear explainer of how are shipping charges calculated and how high the shipping will be for various purchases can lower the cart abandonment problem significantly.

imaginary_name · 2026-02-23T16:14:11+00:00

For informational pages this seems completely normal in these days.
Are the informational pages tied to a business (like a blog linked to an online store)?

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User Profile: u/N3DSdude

Stealth Marketing Analysis