How we used our own Croatian LLC (IGROW MARKETING d.o.o.) as a test lab for AI visibility and what that means for your B2B company.

I, Edin Cerimagic, Founder of iGrow, share the journey with you in my own words.

The most honest self-experiment we have ever done

If you help clients get found in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews, you should be able to prove it yourself. Not with PowerPoint slides. Not with theoretical frameworks. But with real numbers, a real company, and a real starting position: almost zero visibility.

That is exactly the story of iGrow Marketing in Croatia.

In August 2025, we founded IGROW MARKETING d.o.o., our Croatian limited company based in Mali Lošinj. A new company, a new market, a new domain (igrow-marketing.hr). No existing SEO authority. No backlink profile. No brand awareness. And therefore: 0% AI visibility - for our newly defined prompts in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overview, and co. Our new location in Croatia was deliberately chosen as a test lab for AI Search Visibility.

What we had: 1x article, which brought us an average of 33.3% AI visibility for the prompt "digital marketing agency".

As of June 6, 2026, the RankScale dashboard for iGrow HR shows the following figures:

• 67.6% average Visibility Score across all tested prompts and engines

• +34.3% growth within the last 7 days alone

• 75 Brand Mentions, 133 Citations

• 70.9% Detection Rate (the percentage of tests where iGrow was found at all)

• 65.0% Top 3 Visibility (how often we appear among the top three results)

• 1.8 average position when we are found

• The closest competitor: 9.0%
  
  

This is no accident. This is methodology.

The Croatian market: different from DACH, but no less interesting

Anyone working in the DACH region must understand: Croatia operates under different rules.

Google Ads CPCs are significantly cheaper. Inquiries come faster. The total number of leads is higher. But: the market is more price-sensitive. Many prospects are still in an early decision-making phase. Large companies that bring real budgets conduct more thorough research and often decide on price rather than positioning-based criteria.

For us, this means: Google Ads was a good starting point to generate inquiries in the first place. The ads were running. The leads were coming in. But qualified pipeline from organic and AI channels: zero.

Those who operate in the Croatian market without a strong organic and AI presence are constantly fighting on price. On the other hand, those who are perceived as an authority, appear as a recommendation from ChatGPT, and rank first for relevant searches on Google, fundamentally change their bargaining position – this is precisely where a strategic AI Search and GEO positioning comes into play.

That was the motivation for me as founder to start this project.

The starting point: one article triggered everything

Back then, I had written an article myself. In Croatian, meaning: "Agencija za digitalni Marketing" (Digital Marketing Agency) with a focus on the keyword. No sophisticated SEO concept behind it. No strategic editorial plan. Just a well-written, informative article about a relevant topic.

The result surprised me: the article started generating organic traffic. It appeared in AI Overviews. It brought iGrow HR into the visibility of AI systems for the first time.

That was the moment of proof. Not theory. Not another company's case study. But our own experiment, live.

The problem: our focus was on clients. We did not have a content team free to focus exclusively on igrow-marketing.hr. New team roles were filled later, and capacities were built up. Our own content had to wait.

Until we made the decision: if we pull this off for clients with 100% focus, we have to pull it off for ourselves as well. Systematically. With a clear strategy.

The strategy: Funnel-first, not traffic-first

The most common mistake in content projects: starting at the top of the funnel. General information articles. High volume. Low intent. Lots of traffic, few leads.

We flipped that.

Bottom of funnel first. Prompts and keywords that are directly linked to a buying decision. Anyone searching for "Google Ads Agencija Hrvatska" or asking ChatGPT who the best digital agency in Croatia is, is not looking for information. They are a potential buyer.


Mid funnel next. Content that builds authority, showcases references, presents case studies, and positions iGrow as a provider that delivers. This is exactly what we are doing right here, with this article.

Top of funnel as support. General topics around SEO basics and proven SEO tactics, Google Ads, AI Search, digital marketing in Croatia. These articles are published as supporting content, link to bottom-funnel pages, and strengthen the thematic authority of the domain. Classic search engine optimization remains important, but is complemented by Generative Engines Optimization and AI optimization for new answer systems.

The prompt framework: We asked ourselves how Croatian companies would formulate their purchase intent. Not how SEO experts think about what is searched for. But how a managing director in Zagreb asks Google or ChatGPT when looking for a marketing agency. This changed user behavior in AI searches defines a relevant part of the content strategy today.

The results of this analysis were translated directly into article titles and content direction. In doing so, we formulated questions along the industry where systems name concrete options, making artificial intelligence tangible for real buying moments.

The execution: 22 articles, 24 hours, top 1 position

At the end of May 2026, the first articles went online. Some of them went live as recently as June 5, 2026.

What happened next surprised even us:

Within 24 hours, our articles appeared in the organic Google search results. Several of them landed directly in first place. At the same time, we were cited as a relevant source in AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Mode – meaning systems with artificial intelligence, where users ask complex questions directly to AI assistants and content is output as AI answers or recommendations.

In total, 22 articles have been published so far. All 22 have generated AI visibility. The goal here is to be named as a relevant option in your own industry so that AI tools know your company.

This is not a claim. It is documented in the screenshots embedded throughout this article. AI optimization does not replace traditional search engine optimization, but is a growing part of the strategy.

AI Visibility Croatia Website

Best SEO Agency for Marketing

How to improve Google ranking

Google Advertising Croatia

How to improve Google ranking

How to create an SEO strategy

How do I measure the success of marketing campaigns

Google Advertising Croatia

Google Ads for small businesses (because of budget :P)

Google Ads Agency

Digital Marketing for B2B Companies

Content Marketing Croatia

ChatGPT Brand Recommendation (how to get recommended)

AI Search Optimization and SEO for Web

SEO Agency Croatia

Local SEO Croatia

How to increase online sales + How to attract ideal customers online

The numbers in detail

Overall Performance (as of June 6, 2026)

Competitor Comparison (Visibility Score)

To put it in perspective: At the start (June 1, 2026), iGrow HR was at 33.3%. Kala Presence led with 35.9%, and 404 agency was at 29.0%. In less than a week, we overtook all competitors and more than doubled our score.

Performance by Topic Cluster

Our articles cover several thematic pillars. The AI visibility by topic:

Google Ads and AI Search Optimization lead with 100% and 92.3% visibility respectively. These are exactly the topics we defined as bottom-of-funnel priorities.

Performance by AI Engine and ChatGPT SEO

AI Overview, ChatGPT, and Perplexity show the strongest growth because we went live only a few days ago and these engines picked up our articles quickly. Gemini and AI Mode had already indexed us earlier and therefore show smaller delta values, although the absolute scores are high.

Share of Voice and Citations

In terms of citations, we dominate with a 70.4% market share (from 0% to +70.4% in one week). The next competitor stands at 4.8%.

In terms of Share of Voice (Mentions), we are at 42.4%, also coming from 0%.

The Prompts and Prompt Research: None of them are branded

A crucial point of this case study: AI visibility was not generated through branded searches. No one asked for "iGrow". The prompts represent genuine purchasing intent from Croatian business owners.

Here are the tested search terms (translated from Croatian):

SEO Topics:

• "SEO Agency Croatia"

• "Best SEO for Marketing"

• "Local SEO Croatia"

• "How to make an SEO strategy"

• "How to improve Google ranking"

Google Ads:

• "Google Ads Agency"

• "Google Ads for small businesses"

• "Google Advertising Croatia"

AI & Digital Marketing:

• "AI Search Optimizacija i SEO za Web" (AI Search Optimization and SEO for Web)

• "AI visibility Croatian website"

• "ChatGPT brand recommendation"

• "Digital marketing for B2B companies"

• "B2B marketing Croatia"

• "B2B Lead Generation"

Decision stage:

• "How to choose a digital agency"

• "How to measure the success of marketing campaigns"

• "How to win ideal customers online"

• "How to increase online sales"

• "Content Marketing Croatia"

• "Digitalni Marketing" (general)

These prompts reflect how Croatian entrepreneurs actually search, based on our research. Whoever is recommended by ChatGPT or Google for these questions is already on the shortlist before a discovery call even takes place.

The Google Search Results: Not just AI, but organic Top 1 as well

AI visibility is one side. The other: our articles rank in parallel top positions in Google's organic search results.

Documented examples (as of June 5/6, 2026, in some cases less than 24 hours after publication):

"AI Search Optimizacija i SEO za Web" (AI Search Optimization and SEO for Web): igrow-marketing.hr ranks in 1st place, directly above the AI Overview, which also cites our page as the main source.

"Kako odabrati agenciju za digitalni marketing" (How to choose a digital marketing agency): iGrow HR ranks as the first organic source in the AI Overview, with a direct quote from our article.

"Kako Napraviti SEO Strategiju" (How to create an SEO strategy): igrow-marketing.hr is in 2nd place in the organic results, and 1st in the AI Overview with our article as the main source, out of 11 referenced websites in total.

"Google Ads Agencija" (Google Ads Agency): iGrow HR ranks organically on the page, competing against established providers like Redbrick, IGNIS, and Radionica, all with a significantly longer market presence.

"Digitalni Marketing za B2B Tvrtke" (Digital Marketing for B2B Companies): 1st place in the organic results, with an AI Overview quote directly below.

"ChatGPT Preporuka Brenda" (ChatGPT Brand Recommendation): 1st place organically, with AI Overview citing igrow-marketing.hr as the primary source.

"B2B Marketing Hrvatska" (B2B Marketing Croatia): 1st place organically, with AI Overview highlighting iGrow HR as the main reference.

"Kako Napraviti SEO Strategiju" (How to create an SEO strategy): In the AI Overview, igrow-marketing.hr appears as one of 11 referenced sources, with our article featured as the second thumbnail.

These prompts represent real purchasing intent and should be tested across various thematic contexts, not just for a single search term. Classic rankings remain useful as a benchmark, even if AI answers increasingly display according to a different logic.

Some of these articles were published on June 5, 2026. It took less than 24 hours for them to appear at the top of AI search and Google.

Why it worked so quickly

The question everyone is asking: How is this possible? A new company, a young domain, barely any backlinks, and yet top 1 positions within 24 hours?

The answer lies in the combination of several factors:

1. Market maturity of the topic in Croatia

AI visibility and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are still largely unoccupied fields in the Croatian market. Classic SEO relies primarily on stable rankings and keywords. The other side: here, it also matters whether content appears in AI answers. Most local agencies do not publish structured, high-quality articles on these topics. This creates a gap that can be filled quickly.

2. Strategic Prompt Selection

We did not optimize for traffic, but for search intent. This means: the articles we write are tailored directly to questions that AI systems are frequently asked. Whoever answers the exact question a user is asking is cited preferentially by the AI.

3. Content Quality and Structure

AI systems prefer content that is clearly structured, provides direct answers, addresses specific questions, and is factually correct. Clarity is also key so that machines can categorize the content more easily and adopt it into responses. We do not write generic agency copy. We write articles that provide real value to the reader, have a clearly recognizable author, and are structurally optimized for AI systems at the same time.

4. Technical Foundation

The website igrow-marketing.hr is set up cleanly from a technical perspective: fast, mobile-first, with correct schema markup, clear page structure, and internal linking. This accelerates indexing significantly.

5. Funnel Logic in the Content Architecture

Bottom-funnel articles link to service pages. Mid-funnel articles link to bottom-funnel. Top-funnel articles complete the picture and strengthen the thematic depth of the domain. This structure signals authority in a specific field to search engines and AI systems and follows a strategic roadmap for AI visibility in B2B.

What this means for your B2B company

The question is not whether AI search is relevant to your business. The question is when you will stop waiting for it to solve itself.

In Croatia, it took less than 30 days to go from 0% to a 67.6% Visibility Score. Yes, 33.3% was the starting point for one prompt - but our newly defined prompts logically had 0% because the AI had no content of ours to measure yet. In the DACH region, the market is more mature and competition is stronger. But the basic principle is identical.

We have also achieved high visibility scores for other companies in a very short time, whether in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, or the USA – we built our framework so that it works in any country, with any language, even in Croatian.

What you can do today:

Ask yourself: if your ideal customer asks ChatGPT right now who they should recommend for [your service], what does the AI answer? Are you mentioned? Are you recommended? Or does the lead go straight to your competitor?

If you don't know the answer, that is already a problem. Because your customers are already asking these questions.

Therefore, the most important priority is not just ranking, but a measurable presence in AI answers – ideally based on a structured GEO Visibility Audit for your AI visibility.

Ensure your content provides clear, direct answers and visible author details as a trust signal.

Establish clean technical foundations with schema markup and structured data like JSON-LD.

Strong content, genuine backlinks, and positive customer reviews increase the likelihood of AI recommendations.

Brands should be described consistently across different websites to gain visibility.

When AIs cite your brand, it strengthens trust and your status as an expert.

The iGrow Methodology: What lies behind the result

What we implemented in Croatia is the same methodology we apply for our clients in the DACH region – as a specialist B2B Growth Partner. It is based on three pillars:

In 2026, visibility in AI will become more important for many companies than pure Google ranking.

Pillar 1: AI visibility through structured content Not all content is weighted equally by AI systems. We optimize for what ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity classify as a reliable source: clear answers, structured information, factual depth, thematic consistency.

Pillar 2: Intent-based keyword strategy We start with the questions that decision-makers ready to buy are asking. Bottom-of-funnel first. This ensures qualified visibility rather than vanity traffic metrics.

Pillar 3: Measurement and Optimization With tools like RankScale, we track AI visibility across all relevant engines. Classic tracking quickly reaches its limits here because answer engines cite, weigh, and display information differently. That's why we define clear KPIs and robust metrics that go beyond clicks and are actionable for marketing teams. These include citation frequency, citation rank, or additional signals like reading time when classic rankings lose their significance. The crucial question before making the next optimization decision is which tool is truly reliable for this monitoring. What is measured can be optimized. What is not measured remains speculation.

This is already relevant in the market: 37% of Austrians already use AI tools for recommendations. How strongly this affects real pipeline is demonstrated by our SoWork Case Study on AI visibility, where we increased visibility from 16.6% to 100% within 90 days – an approach we have documented in detail in the English SoWork AI Visibility Case Study.

Reference Points: Our next piece of evidence

This case study is not the first time iGrow has documented measurable AI visibility.

With SoWork, one of our DACH clients, we increased AI Visibility from 16.6% to 100% in 90 days. This was the launching pad for our positioning as an AI visibility agency and highlights how vital a specialized B2B SaaS digital marketing agency in the DACH region is for generating measurable pipeline.

Most recently, we also proved this in another MiniFinder Case Study, an IoT company from Sweden where we compete against major operators like Tractive and Garmin in Germany.

iGrow Croatia is another piece of evidence. Our own company. Our own budget. Our own skin in the game.

From 0% (on newly defined prompts) to 67.6% in less than 30 days. From a newly founded company with no organic presence to market leadership in AI visibility within the Croatian agency market.

Further client results are currently in progress and will be covered separately in new articles.

Conclusion: Visibility in AI is no longer a question of the future

One in three Google searches today triggers an AI Overview response. ChatGPT has over 500 million weekly users. Perplexity is growing faster than any other search platform in recent years. Gemini is directly integrated into Google.

Those who are not visible in these channels lose inquiries they will never even see. Those who are visible win inquiries before the potential client even writes their first email.

iGrow Marketing in Croatia proved this in less than 30 days. With 22 articles. In a new market. Without existing domain authority.

If it works in Croatia, it will also work for your B2B company.

Want to find out how visible you already are in AI search?

We will create a free AI Visibility Check for you, showing you where you stand today and what that means for your pipeline. If you would also like to speak with a specialized GEO agency for AI search results, you can contact us directly via our iGrow contact page.

Request your AI Visibility Check now

iGrow is a revenue marketing agency for SaaS, tech, and B2B companies in the DACH region. Our core services: SEO, Google Ads, AI Search Visibility / GEO, and LinkedIn Thought Leadership. All results in this article are based on measured data from RankScale and Google Search Console (as of June 2026).