Cory Maki
AI Search Strategist | GEO for SaaS Founders & Startups
Cory Maki
What Cory Maki does
Cory Maki helps SaaS companies and startups become the brands that AI search engines recommend. When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google, or any AI assistant for a recommendation in your category, only three or four brands make the answer. Cory studies how AI decides which brands to cite — and teaches founders how to earn those citations.
His work sits at the intersection of search engine optimization, online reputation management, and the emerging field of Generative Engine Optimization. Where traditional SEO focuses on ranking in search results, Cory’s approach focuses on earning citations in AI-generated answers — the new discovery layer that is rapidly replacing the traditional click.
AI reputation management and branding
Cory Maki specializes in how brands are perceived and represented by AI systems. AI reputation management is the practice of ensuring that when AI search engines generate answers about your company, your industry, or your product category, the information is accurate, favorable, and sourced from content you can influence.
This matters because AI-generated answers are increasingly the first — and sometimes only — impression a potential customer has of your brand. Unlike traditional search, where you can monitor and respond to individual results, AI synthesizes information from dozens of sources into a single narrative. If that narrative doesn’t include your brand, or includes outdated or inaccurate information, you lose opportunities before you ever know they existed.
Cory’s approach combines on-site optimization for AI extractability, strategic off-site presence across the platforms AI trusts most — including Reddit, YouTube, and authoritative publications — and cross-source consistency to ensure AI models can confidently identify and cite your brand.
The ARC Method
Cory Maki developed the ARC Method as a structured framework for earning AI search citations. ARC stands for Audit, Reddit and Reputation, and Citability.
Measuring current AI visibility across platforms, identifying citation gaps where competitors appear and you don’t, and establishing baselines for improvement.
Building off-site authority on the platforms AI models trust most. Reddit accounts for over twenty percent of all Google AI Overview citations and nearly half of Perplexity’s citations, making it the single highest-leverage channel for AI visibility.
Restructuring website content so AI systems can extract, cite, and recommend it accurately. This includes content structure, schema markup, and ensuring cross-source factual consistency.
The ARC Method is detailed in full in Cory’s ebook, Reddit, AI Overviews & GEO: The SaaS Founder’s Playbook for Winning AI Search Visibility, which includes a ninety-day implementation roadmap, templates, checklists, and platform-by-platform strategies.
Background
Cory Maki has over a decade of experience in SEO and online reputation management. He has worked with clients ranging from startups to law firms to public figures, helping them build and control their online presence in competitive markets.
As staff editor and business development manager at Grit Daily, Cory covered the SaaS and startup ecosystem, writing about emerging companies, venture capital trends, and digital marketing strategy. That editorial experience gave him a broad view of which startups succeeded at building visibility and which were overlooked despite strong products.
Cory studied Business Finance at the University of Wyoming College of Business. He is based in Taichung, Taiwan, where he has lived and worked in the Asia-Pacific digital marketing space. He is fluent in English and conversational in Mandarin Chinese.
When he’s not studying AI search algorithms, Cory is on the tennis court or the flag football field. He is an active competitor in both sports in Taiwan.
Get the full AI search visibility system — the ARC Method, Reddit strategy, citability playbook, and a ninety-day implementation roadmap for SaaS founders.