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 point: virtually zero visibility.

That is exactly the story of iGrow Marketing in Croatia.

In August 2025, we founded IGROW MARKETING d.o.o., our Croatian company based in Mali Lošinj. A new business, a new market, a new domain (igrow-marketing.hr). No existing SEO authority. No backlink profile. No brand awareness. And with that: 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 in the top three results)

• Rank 1.8 on average when we are found

• The closest competitor: 9.0%
  
  

This is no coincidence. This is system.

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 in 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 possess real budgets research more thoroughly and often decide based 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 kept coming in. But qualified pipeline from organic and AI channels: zero.

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

That was the motivation for me as a Founder to launch the project.

The baseline: One article triggered everything

Back then, I wrote an article myself. In Croatian, along the lines of: "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 on a relevant topic.

The result surprised me: The article started to generate 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 our clients. We did not have a content team free to look after igrow-marketing.hr exclusively. New team positions were filled later, capacities built up. Our own content had to wait.

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

The strategy: Funnel-first, not traffic-first

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

We turned that upside down.

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


Mid Funnel next. Content that builds authority, shows references, presents case studies, and positions iGrow as a provider that delivers. This is 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 additions, 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 people search. But how a CEO in Zagreb asks Google or ChatGPT when looking for a marketing agency. Precisely this changed user behavior in AI searches determines a relevant part of the content strategy today.

The results of this analysis were translated directly into article titles and content focus. In doing so, we formulated questions related to the industry in which systems name concrete options, making artificial intelligence tangible for real moments of purchase.

The implementation: 22 articles, 24 hours, Top-1 position

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

What happened then took even us by surprise:

Within 24 hours, our articles appeared in organic Google search results. Several of them directly in 1st place. At the same time, we were cited as a relevant source in AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and AI Mode – i.e., in systems with artificial intelligence where users pose complex questions directly to AI assistants and content is delivered as AI answers or recommendations.

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

This is not a claim. This is documented in the screenshots below, which are embedded in this article. AI optimization does not replace classic 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 clients online

The numbers in detail

Overall performance (as of June 6, 2026)

Competitive 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%, 404 agency was at 29.0%. In less than a week, we overtook all competitors and more than doubled their 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 just a few days ago and these engines quickly picked up our articles. Gemini and AI Mode had indexed us earlier and therefore show smaller delta values, despite the absolute scores being high.

Share of Voice and Citations

In the citations category, we dominate with a 70.4% market share (from 0% to +70.4 in one week). The next closest competitor only reaches 4.8%.

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

The Prompts and Prompt Research: Not a single one is branded

A crucial point of this case study: The AI visibility was not generated by branded searches. Nobody asked for "iGrow". The prompts represent genuine buying intentions of 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 create 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 phase:

• "How to choose a digital agency"

• "How to measure the success of marketing campaigns"

• "How to attract ideal clients online"

• "How to increase online revenue"

• "Content Marketing Croatia"

• "Digital Marketing" (general)

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

The Google search results: Not just AI, but also Organic Top 1

AI visibility is one side of the coin. The other: Our articles rank in top positions in organic Google search results simultaneously.

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 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 such as Redbrick, IGNIS, and Radionica, all of which have a significantly longer market presence.

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

"ChatGPT Preporuka Brenda" (ChatGPT brand recommendation): 1st place organic, AI Overview cites igrow-marketing.hr as the primary source.

"B2B Marketing Hrvatska" (B2B Marketing Croatia): 1st place organic, AI Overview with 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 as the second thumbnail.

The prompts represent real purchase intent and should be tested across different thematic contexts, not just for a single search term. Classic rankings remain useful as a benchmark, even though 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 rank 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 a combination of several factors:

1. Market maturity of the topic in Croatia

AI Visibility and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are still largely unoccupied territory in the Croatian market. Classic SEO is primarily based on stable rankings and keywords. The alternative: Here, what also counts is 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 didn't optimize for traffic, but for purchase intent. This means: The articles we write are directly tailored to questions that AI systems are frequently asked. Whoever answers precisely the question the user is asking is cited by the AI by preference.

3. Content Quality and Structure

AI systems prefer content that is clearly structured, provides clear answers, addresses specific questions, and is factually correct. Clarity is also crucial here, so that content can be classified by machines more easily and implemented into answers. We don't 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 technically set up clean: fast, mobile-first, with correct schema markup, clear site structure, and internal linking. This significantly accelerates indexing.

5. Funnel Logic in 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 topical depth of the domain. This structure signals authority in a specific topic area 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, we had 33.3% as a starting point for one prompt - however, the newly defined prompts logically had 0%, as the AI had no content of ours to measure yet. In the DACH region, the market is more mature, the competition stronger. But the basic principle remains 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 have built our framework to work 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 directly to your competitor?

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

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

Make sure your content features clear, direct answers and visible author information as a trust signal.

Create technically clean 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 expert status.

The iGrow methodology: What lies behind the result

What we implemented in Croatia is the same methodology we use for our clients in the DACH region – as a specialized 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 ask. Bottom-of-funnel first. This ensures qualified visibility instead of vanity-metric traffic numbers.

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, weight, and deliver results differently. That's why we define clear KPIs and reliable metrics that go beyond clicks and are actionable for marketing teams as well. These include citation frequency, citation rank, or supplementary signals like reading time when classic rankings lose their expressiveness. Crucial is how AI models select sources and how early a brand appears in answers. The most important question before the next optimization decision is therefore which tool is truly reliable for this monitoring. What is measured can be optimized. What is not measured remains speculation.

In the market, this is already highly relevant: 37% of Austrians are already using AI tools for recommendations. How strongly this impacts 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.

For SoWork, one of our DACH clients, we increased AI Visibility from 16.6% to 100% in 90 days. That was the starting point of our positioning as an AI visibility agency and highlights how important a specialized Digital Marketing Agency for B2B SaaS in the DACH region is for creating a measurable pipeline.

Recently also in another case study on MiniFinder, an IoT company from Sweden, where we measure ourselves against major players 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% (in the 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.

Furthermore, more client results are on the way and will be covered separately in new articles.

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

Every third person searching Google today gets an AI Overview answer. ChatGPT has over 500 million weekly users. Perplexity is growing faster than any other search platform of recent years. Gemini is directly integrated into Google.

Those who are not visible in these channels lose out on inquiries they never even see. Those who are visible win inquiries before the potential client even writes the 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 work for your B2B company too.

Do you want to know how visible you already are in AI search?

We will create a free AI Visibility Check for you, showing 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 inquire 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).