Optimize your site for AI search... without destroying your SEO.
QueryBurst is an AI search optimization platform built on a simple premise: if you understand how AI "thinks", you can make your brand impossible to ignore, without gaming the system or generating content slop.
Our philosophy
The industry is being flooded with tools that track probabilistic answers and generate bulk content to match. We think that's the wrong approach. Answers change. The reasoning behind them doesn't.
QueryBurst focuses on the deterministic signals that AI uses to decide who deserves to be recommended — the decision criteria, the retrieval patterns, the evidence that gives a model confidence to cite your brand. We help you understand what AI is looking for, then optimize your actual site to deliver it.
We believe that words are not a throwaway commodity. That humans remain the first class citizens of the web. And that your brand's voice should never be delegated to LLMs. That's why we don't generate articles, we generate the concentrated, grounded information that AI needs, and leave the rest to you.
AI search is still search. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
The SEO industry has a habit of inventing new acronyms to sell you the same thing with a fresh coat of paint. "GEO" (Generative Engine Optimization), "AEO" (Answer Engine Optimization), "LLMO". They sound impressive until you realise that the underlying tactics are just solid SEO, repackaged with jargon designed to extract new consulting fees.
When people tell you that "nobody searches anymore," they're being economical with the truth. Here's the reality:
Google processes 14 billion searches every day. Google's search volume actually grew 21% in 2024, the same year AI was supposed to kill it. ChatGPT processes roughly 2.5 billion daily prompts, many of which aren't search queries at all. And even when they are, ChatGPT sends 190 times less traffic to websites than Google does.
The foundation of AI search visibility is, and will remain, ranking in search. If your site doesn't appear in Google's index, it won't appear in AI answers. AI Overviews, AI Mode, and ChatGPT with search grounding all rely on traditional search retrieval as their primary source of content. The retrieval layer is built on the same infrastructure that powers regular search results.
That doesn't mean AI changes nothing. But the changes are evolutionary, not revolutionary. Understanding how AI retrieval works, optimising your site's structure for machine readability, and ensuring your content covers the criteria AI uses to evaluate recommendations — that's where the real opportunity is. And it doesn't need a new acronym.
We wrote about this in detail: The Great GEO Grift — a breakdown of why GEO is, at best, rebranded SEO, and at worst, a waste of your money.
What we stand for
Research first, tools second
Every feature in QueryBurst is grounded in how AI systems actually work. Not speculation, not hype. We published detailed breakdowns of how ChatGPT and Google AI Mode retrieve and cite content, and built our tools on what we found.
Optimize, don't manipulate
There's a difference between making your site genuinely better for AI retrieval and trying to trick a model. We've been in SEO long enough to know that shortcuts don't last. We build for the long game.
Write for humans first
AI only needs a paragraph or two. The rest of your page should be written for the people you're actually trying to reach. Tell your brand story. Be creative. We'll handle what the machines need.
Transparency over hype
We don't hide behind jargon or make promises we can't back up. Our pricing is simple. Our methodology is published. If something doesn't work, we'll say so.
Who's behind QueryBurst
David McSweeney
I've spent nearly three decades in SEO, long enough to have watched the industry reinvent itself several times over. I was Head of Content at Ahrefs and Seobility, developed techniques that became industry best practices, and built my first ecommerce platform in PHP back when Google was still running out of a garage.
QueryBurst exists because I saw the same pattern repeating: an industry rushing to adopt new technology without understanding how it actually works. So I did the research, published the findings, and built the tools I wished existed. The platform is built on what I found, not what the market said I should build.
This is a small, intentionally lean operation. No VC money, no bloated team, no pressure to ship features that don't matter. Just well-researched tools that do what they say.
- Nearly 30 years in SEO and web development
- Former Head of Content — Ahrefs, Seobility
- Published research on ChatGPT and Google AI Mode retrieval systems
- White hat philosophy — always has been, always will be
The research behind the tools
QueryBurst is built on published research, not marketing speculation. We publish infrequently — roughly one deep-dive per month — but when we do, our articles tend to get shared.
How ChatGPT Works: A Forensic Analysis of Retrieval & Citation
A deep-dive into how ChatGPT retrieves, evaluates, and cites web content, and why the citation model is fundamentally different from what most people assume.
ResearchHow Google AI Mode & AI Overviews Actually Work
A breakdown of Google's AI search pipeline — from query fan-out to citation selection, based on the thematic search patent. The foundation for QueryBurst's Answer Spy tool.
Security DisclosureHow Cloudflare's "Markdown for Agents" Breaks the Web's Trust Model
A vulnerability disclosure showing how a new Cloudflare feature enables industrialized AI cloaking and threatens the integrity of autonomous agents.
The Great GEO Grift
Why "Generative Engine Optimization" is rebranded SEO at best, and a waste of your money at worst. A point-by-point breakdown of every major GEO tactic, and the historical evidence that it's all been done before.
We don't publish to hit content quotas. When something lands in your inbox from QueryBurst, it's because we found something worth saying. Every tool in the platform traces back to findings from this research.
How QueryBurst is built
QueryBurst is a solo-built platform, designed, developed, and maintained by one person with a little help from my favorite of our AI overlords, Claude. This isn't a limitation; it's a feature. Every decision is made by someone who understands both the technology and the industry it serves.
The platform runs on Python, Django, and React, with AI capabilities powered by the latest models from Google. The architecture is designed to be lean and efficient — no unnecessary complexity, no features that exist purely for a pitch deck.
I've been transparent about this from day one. In a space full of companies pretending to have teams of hundreds, I'd rather be honest about what this is: one person who did the research, built the tools, and stands behind every feature.
Get in touch
I'm active on social media and always happy to talk about AI search, retrieval systems, and how the industry is evolving. If you have questions about QueryBurst or just want to discuss ideas, reach out.