Case study · AI search & SEO
RedShiftBio · Biopharma analytical instruments
Cited by Google’s AI.
Organic search up 49%.
RedShiftBio makes advanced analytical instruments for biopharma. Its buyers are scientists who research methods on Google and, more and more, in AI answers. We rebuilt the site’s technical SEO foundation and prepared its content for AI search.
At a glance
Last 90 days vs.
same period last year.
Source: Google Analytics 4, Jul 31–Oct 28, 2026 vs. Aug 1–Oct 29, 2025. AI citations checked in Google Search and DataForSEO, Oct 2026.
The challenge
A narrow market.
Big competitors.
RedShiftBio sells into a narrow, technical market where a handful of large competitors (Waters, Agilent, Thermo Fisher) dominate search.
An audit in early 2026 scored the site 56/100. Search engines weren’t reading the site correctly, structured data was missing, URLs were outdated and AI crawlers were blocked.
On top of that, more buyers now get answers straight from Google’s AI Overviews and chat tools without clicking a link. A brand that isn’t cited there is invisible at the moment the buyer is learning.
What we did
Five moves,
in this order.
- 01
Fixed the technical foundation
robots.txt, XML sitemap, title tags, 301 redirects for retired product URLs, and consistent business listings.
- 02
Added structured data (schema)
So Google and AI systems understand the products, the FAQs and the company.
- 03
Opened the door to AI crawlers
Published an llms.txt file and stopped blocking GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot, which a default firewall setting had shut out.
- 04
Rewrote high-potential pages
Pages ranking just off page one, including the biomolecule application pages (ligand binding, peptides, fusion proteins). These are the same pages Google’s AI now cites.
- 05
Wrote answer-first content
Plain definitions, specific numbers (for example, “titer in about 5 minutes”) and named methods. AI systems prefer to quote this kind of content.
Result 1
Cited in Google’s
AI answers.
For the searches that define RedShiftBio’s market, Google’s AI now names RedShiftBio as a source, often next to Waters, Intertek and leading universities.
| Search | Where RedShiftBio appears |
|---|---|
| Real-Time Titer Measurement for Biomanufacturing | Cited in the AI Overview. HaLCon is listed first under “Key Technologies & Platforms.” Also the #1 organic result. This visibility came while paid search ads for the term were paused. |
| Biophysical Characterization | Cited in both the Google AI Overview and Google AI Mode, next to Waters, KBI Biopharma and Intertek. |
| Microfluidic Modulation Spectroscopy | AI result, plus the #1 organic result, 3 of the top 10 organic results, and RedShiftBio videos and images on page one. |
| Chromatography Without Complexity | Appears in Google’s AI results. |
| Actionable protein titer | Appears in Google’s AI results. |
Monthly US searches where Google AI Overviews cite RedShiftBio
Additional AI Overview citations found (US Google, Oct 2026)
| Topic | Example searches | Monthly US searches | Cited page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peptide structure | structure of peptides, peptide size | ~1,900 | Peptide analysis |
| Ligand binding | ligand binding affinity, protein–ligand, protein–ligand complex, what is ligand binding (12 variants) | ~2,800 combined | Ligand binding |
| Fusion proteins | what is a fusion protein, what are fusion proteins | ~480 combined | Fusion proteins |
| Protein biophysics | biophysical characterization of proteins, protein structural analysis | ~80 | Biophysical characterization; Structure |
| Brand and events | apollo bio, discovery mms, OPT Congress, oligo conferences | ~130 | News and events pages |
In total, Google’s AI Overviews cite redshiftbio.com for 24+ tracked keywords with roughly 5,000 combined monthly US searches. These are top-of-funnel, educational searches made by the scientists who later evaluate instruments.
Result 2
Organic search growth,
year over year.
Organic search grew faster than the site overall (+49% vs. +27% sessions). Its share of all traffic rose from 19% to 23%.
Last yearThis year
23% of traffic. 61% of conversions.
61% of all tracked key events came from organic visitors, who made up 23% of sessions. That is about 2.7× the site’s average conversion rate.
Result 3
A new channel:
AI assistants.
A year ago, AI assistants sent no measurable visits. Now they are a channel of their own, and it’s the highest-quality traffic on the site.
The volume is still small, but the visitors are highly qualified. When an AI answer recommends RedShiftBio and the buyer clicks through, they arrive already informed and ready to act.
Why it worked
Four lessons
you can reuse.
The basics came first
AI systems build on what search engines can crawl and understand. Fixing the technical foundation and adding schema made the site readable to both.
AI crawlers were let in
Many sites block them by accident through firewall defaults. Removing that block was a one-line change with outsized impact.
Content written to be quoted
Clear definitions, concrete specs and plain language get cited. Vague marketing copy doesn’t.
Specialist pages beat generic ones
Focused pages on single topics (ligand binding, peptides, fusion proteins) earned citations that a broad product page wouldn’t.
Want to be cited
where your buyers research?
The same approach works for any company selling a technical or high-consideration product. We start with an audit of your technical SEO and AI visibility, then prioritize the fixes with the biggest return.