How to Run Signal for the First Time

Quick summary: Visit surmado.com/signal, enter business name and website, choose 3-7 persona queries (how buyers search), pay $50, wait 10-15 minutes, receive PDF report showing Presence Rate, Authority Score, and competitor rankings across 7 AI platforms.

Surmado does not sell AI placements and cannot submit your site to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Meta AI, Grok, or DeepSeek. No one can. We test how these systems already talk about you and give you a plan to improve.

Reading time: 18 minutes

What you’ll learn:

• The difference between bad personas (“HVAC”) and good personas (“Emergency AC repair Phoenix same-day weekend”) with specific buyer intent
• What to expect in your first report: most businesses score 20-40% Presence Rate (not 100%), with first-time benchmarks by business maturity
• Five common first-time mistakes: too-generic personas, testing only 1-2 personas, expecting 100% Presence Rate, not specifying competitors, running once and never again
• Three immediate actions after receiving your report: review Presence Rate by persona, analyze Ghost Influence features, study competitor mentions
• The 30-day Ghost Influence fix sprint: Week 1 identify/prioritize, Week 2 create FAQ pages, Week 3 add proof via case studies, Week 4 schema/optimization

What you need before starting: Business name, website URL, and 3-7 examples of how your buyers search for your service (persona queries).

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What to Prepare Before Running Signal

1. Business Information (Required)

Business name: Legal or DBA name

• Example: “Acme HVAC” or “Acme Heating & Air Conditioning”

Website URL: Primary domain (no http/https needed)

• Example: acmehvac.com

Category: Industry or service type

• Example: “Home Services - HVAC” or “B2B SaaS - Project Management”

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2. Persona Queries (3-7 Recommended)

What are persona queries? Realistic buyer search phrases representing how customers actually search for your service.

Bad personas (too generic):

• “HVAC”
• “Air conditioning”
• “Best company”

Good personas (specific buyer intent):

• “Emergency AC repair Phoenix same-day weekend”
• “HVAC maintenance plan under $200/year Phoenix”
• “Best HVAC company for system replacement 3-ton unit Phoenix”

Why specific matters: AI platforms respond differently to generic vs specific queries. Specific personas reveal how you perform in real buyer scenarios.

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3. Optional: Competitor List

What it does: If you specify 3-5 competitors, Signal focuses benchmarking on those specifically.

Example:

• Competitor A: competitor-a.com
• Competitor B: competitor-b.com
• Competitor C: competitor-c.com

If you skip this: Signal auto-identifies competitors from AI responses (usually finds 5-10).

When to specify: If you know your top competitors and want focused comparison.

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Step-by-Step: Running Your First Signal

Step 1: Visit surmado.com/signal

Navigate to the Signal product page.

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Step 2: Choose Standard or Custom Personas

Option A: Standard Personas (easiest for first-timers)

• Select your industry from dropdown (HVAC, Legal, SaaS, E-commerce, etc.)
• Signal uses pre-built persona templates for your category
• Example HVAC personas:
  • “Emergency repair near me”
  • “Maintenance service plans”
  • “System replacement cost”
  • “24/7 HVAC companies”
  • “Best-rated HVAC”

Option B: Custom Personas (recommended if you know buyer language)

• Write 3-7 persona queries yourself
• Use exact language your buyers use
• Include location if local business
• Include specificity (budget, urgency, features)

Which to choose?

• First time, unsure: Use Standard Personas (quick start)
• Know your buyers well: Use Custom Personas (more accurate)

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Step 3: Submit Business Information

Fill out form:

• Business name: [Your business name]
• Website: [yoursite.com]
• Category: [Select from dropdown]
• Personas: [Standard or Custom]
• Optional - Competitors: [Leave blank or add 3-5]

Click “Continue to payment.”

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Step 4: Payment ($50)

Price: $50 (flat fee, no hidden costs)

Payment methods: Credit card, debit card

What’s included:

• Tests across 7 AI platforms (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek)
• 50+ persona variations (if using 5 personas, Signal tests each across 7 platforms + variations = 50+ total queries)
• PDF report (12-15 pages)
• Intelligence Token (JSON export for automation)

Processing time: Payment processes immediately, report starts generating.

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Step 5: Wait 10-15 Minutes

What’s happening during this time?

Signal is:

1. Submitting your persona queries to 7 AI platforms via API
2. Receiving responses from ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek
3. Analyzing responses (mentions, rankings, sentiment)
4. Calculating metrics (Presence Rate, Authority Score, Ghost Influence)
5. Identifying competitors mentioned alongside you
6. Generating PDF report

You’ll receive:

• Email notification when report is ready
• Link to download PDF
• Intelligence Token for JSON access

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Step 6: Review Your Signal Report

Report structure (12-15 pages):

Page 1: Executive Summary

• Overall Presence Rate (0-100%)
• Authority Score (0-100)
• Ghost Influence (0-100%)
• Top 3 competitors

Pages 2-4: Platform Performance

• ChatGPT: Presence Rate, Authority Score, mentions
• Claude: Presence Rate, Authority Score, mentions
• Perplexity: Presence Rate, Authority Score, mentions
• Gemini: Presence Rate, Authority Score, mentions
• Meta AI, Grok, DeepSeek: Presence Rate, Authority Score

Pages 5-7: Persona Breakdown

• Which personas you dominate (high Presence Rate)
• Which personas you lose (low Presence Rate)
• Example AI responses showing your mentions

Pages 8-10: Competitor Analysis

• Competitor rankings (who’s mentioned most often)
• Co-mention analysis (competitors mentioned alongside you)
• Competitive gaps (personas where competitors dominate)

Pages 11-12: Ghost Influence

• Features/differentiators AI attributes to competitors (but you have)
• Content gaps creating Ghost Influence
• Recommendations to fix

Pages 13-15: Recommendations

• Quick wins (high-impact, low-effort content fixes)
• Long-term strategy (positioning improvements)
• Next steps

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Understanding Your First Report

Key Metric 1: Presence Rate

What it is: Percentage of queries where you’re mentioned by AI platforms.

Example results:

• 72%: Excellent (AI mentions you in 7-8 of 10 queries)
• 58%: Good (AI mentions you in 5-6 of 10 queries)
• 22%: Poor (AI mentions you in 2 of 10 queries)

First-time benchmarks:

• Most businesses: 20-40% (never tracked AI visibility before)
• Strong brands: 60-80%
• Dominant brands: 80-95%

If your Presence Rate is low (under 40%), that’s normal for first test. Signal reveals the gap, you fix it, re-run in 90 days to measure improvement.

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Key Metric 2: Authority Score

What it is: How confidently AI recommends you (0-100 scale).

Example results:

• 85: AI strongly recommends you (“top choice”, “highly rated”, “best option”)
• 68: AI mentions you neutrally (“one option is…”, “you could try…”)
• 42: AI hedges on recommending you (“some people use…”, “mixed reviews…”)

First-time benchmarks:

• Established businesses: 60-75
• New businesses: 40-55
• Strong brands: 75-90

If your Authority Score is low (under 50), AI is aware of you but not confident recommending you. Fix: add reviews, case studies, trust signals.

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Key Metric 3: Ghost Influence

What it is: Percentage of your features/differentiators that AI attributes to competitors instead of you.

Example: You offer “24/7 emergency service” but AI says “Competitor A offers 24/7 emergency service” (not you).

First-time benchmarks:

• 50-70%: Common (AI training data incomplete or outdated)
• 30-50%: Moderate ghost influence
• 10-30%: Low ghost influence (good)

If your Ghost Influence is high (over 50%), AI knows your features exist but doesn’t associate them with you. Fix: FAQ pages, schema markup, clearer messaging.

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Common First-Time Mistakes

Mistake 1: Using Too-Generic Personas

Bad example:

• “HVAC”
• “Air conditioning”
• “Heating repair”

Problem: AI gives generic responses. Doesn’t reveal how you perform vs competitors in specific buyer scenarios.

Fix: Add specificity:

• “Emergency AC repair Phoenix same-day weekend service”
• “HVAC maintenance plan under $200/year Phoenix area”
• “Best HVAC for Carrier system replacement 3-ton 16 SEER Phoenix”

Result: More actionable insights (AI recommends Competitor A for emergency, but you for maintenance).

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Mistake 2: Testing Only 1-2 Personas

Problem: Small sample size. Can’t identify patterns (which personas you win vs lose).

Fix: Test 5-7 personas covering different buyer types:

• Emergency/urgent buyers
• Budget-conscious buyers
• Quality-focused buyers
• Maintenance/preventive buyers
• Replacement/upgrade buyers

Result: Understand where you’re strong and where you need improvement.

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Mistake 3: Expecting 100% Presence Rate

Problem: No business has 100% Presence Rate (AI doesn’t mention anyone for every query).

Reality:

• 80-90%: Dominant brand (rare)
• 60-75%: Strong brand
• 40-60%: Established business
• 20-40%: Typical first-time result
• 0-20%: New business or no online presence

First-time goal: Understand baseline. If 22%, your target is 40-50% in 90 days (not 100%).

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Mistake 4: Not Specifying Competitors

Problem: Signal finds 8-10 competitors from AI responses, but they might not be your top competitors.

Fix: Specify 3-5 competitors you care about most.

Example:

• Your top competitors: A, B, C
• Signal finds: A, B, D, E, F, G, H
• Without specifying: Report focuses on D, E, F (not relevant)
• With specifying: Report focuses on A, B, C (actionable)

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Mistake 5: Running Signal Once and Never Again

Problem: Signal is diagnostic tool. One test shows gaps, but you need to re-test to measure improvement.

Fix: Run Signal quarterly (every 90 days):

• Month 0: Run Signal, discover gaps (22% Presence Rate)
• Month 1-3: Fix content, add FAQs, improve schema
• Month 3: Re-run Signal (measure improvement, 22% → 45%)
• Repeat

Cost: $50 × 4/year = $200 (quality assurance for AI visibility)

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What to Do After Your First Signal

Immediate Actions (First 24 Hours)

Action 1: Review Presence Rate by persona

• Identify personas where you’re mentioned (strong areas)
• Identify personas where you’re missing (gaps)

Action 2: Analyze Ghost Influence

• List features AI attributes to competitors (but you have)
• Prioritize top 3 features to reclaim

Action 3: Study competitor mentions

• Which competitors dominate which personas?
• What differentiators do AI platforms cite for them?

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Short-Term Fixes (Week 1-4)

Fix 1: Create FAQ page addressing persona gaps

Example: Signal shows 0% Presence Rate for “emergency repair” persona.

Fix: Add FAQ page:

Q: Do you offer emergency HVAC repair? A: Yes. We provide 24/7 emergency HVAC repair in Phoenix with same-day service, including weekends and holidays. Call (555) 123-4567 for immediate dispatch.

Result: AI platforms can cite this content for “emergency repair” queries.

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Fix 2: Add schema markup for features causing Ghost Influence

Example: Ghost Influence shows “24/7 service” attributed to Competitor A (but you offer it too).

Fix: Add LocalBusiness schema:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Acme HVAC",
  "openingHours": "Mo-Su 00:00-24:00",
  "availableService": {
    "@type": "Service",
    "name": "24/7 Emergency HVAC Repair"
  }
}

Result: AI platforms recognize your 24/7 availability (reduces Ghost Influence).

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Fix 3: Publish blog posts targeting low-Presence personas

Example: Signal shows low Presence Rate for “budget-conscious” persona.

Fix: Write blog post:

“HVAC Maintenance Plans Under $200/Year in Phoenix: What’s Included?”

Result: AI platforms cite this content for budget-conscious queries.

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Long-Term Strategy (Month 1-3)

Strategy 1: Content calendar based on persona gaps

• Month 1: Publish 4 blog posts targeting personas with 0-20% Presence Rate
• Month 2: Add FAQ pages for Ghost Influence features
• Month 3: Update service pages with persona-specific language

Strategy 2: Competitor content reverse-engineering

• Study what content competitors have that you don’t
• Identify topics where competitors rank well in AI responses
• Create better content on same topics

Strategy 3: Re-run Signal quarterly

• Month 3: Re-run Signal to measure improvement
• Compare Month 0 vs Month 3 (baseline vs after fixes)
• Adjust strategy based on what worked

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Intelligence Token: What to Do With It

Every Signal report includes Intelligence Token (format: SIG-2025-11-XXXXX)

Use Case 1: Track Trends Over Time

Process:

1. Save Intelligence Token from first Signal: SIG-2025-11-A1B2C
2. Run Signal again in 90 days: SIG-2026-02-D3E4F
3. Fetch JSON for both tokens
4. Compare Presence Rate: 22% → 45% (104% improvement)

Example script (Python):

import requests

tokens = ["SIG-2025-11-A1B2C", "SIG-2026-02-D3E4F"]
for token in tokens:
    response = requests.get(f"https://api.surmado.com/intelligence/{token}")
    data = response.json()
    print(f"{token}: {data['metrics']['presence_rate'] * 100}% Presence Rate")

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Use Case 2: Build Dashboard

Goal: Visualize Signal metrics over time (Notion, Google Sheets, etc.)

Process:

1. Run Signal monthly
2. Fetch JSON via Intelligence Token
3. Extract presence_rate, authority_score, ghost_influence
4. Add to spreadsheet or Notion database
5. Chart trends

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The Bottom Line

Running Signal for first time takes 5 minutes (submit info) + 10-15 minutes (wait for report) = 15-20 minutes total.

You need: Business name, website, 3-7 persona queries.

You get: Presence Rate (how often mentioned), Authority Score (how confidently recommended), Ghost Influence (features attributed to competitors), and competitor benchmarking across 7 AI platforms.

After first Signal: Fix content gaps (FAQs, blog posts, schema), re-run in 90 days to measure improvement.

Cost: $50 (one-time, no recurring fees).

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to run Signal for the first time?

5 minutes to fill out form + 10-15 minutes for report generation = 15-20 minutes total from start to finish.

You can close the browser after submitting. Report will be emailed when ready.

What if I don’t know what personas to use?

Use Standard Personas (Signal provides templates for your industry).

Example: If you select “HVAC” category, Signal uses pre-built personas like:

• “Emergency AC repair near me”
• “HVAC maintenance service”
• “Best HVAC companies”
• “System replacement cost”

You can always run custom personas later after you understand buyer language better.

Do I need to specify competitors?

Optional. If you skip it, Signal auto-identifies competitors from AI responses (usually finds 5-10).

Specify competitors if:

• You know your top 3-5 direct competitors
• You want focused benchmarking (not random mentions)

Skip if:

• You’re unsure who your competitors are
• You want Signal to discover competitors for you

Can I run Signal on a competitor’s business first?

Yes. Run Signal on competitor to see their Presence Rate, Authority Score, and positioning strategy.

Process:

1. Submit competitor’s business name and website
2. Use same personas you’d use for yourself
3. Receive report showing their AI visibility

Then run Signal on yourself to compare apples-to-apples.

What’s a good Presence Rate for a first-time Signal user?

First-time benchmarks:

• 60-80%: Excellent (strong brand, good content)
• 40-60%: Good (established business)
• 20-40%: Average (typical first result)
• 0-20%: Low (new business or no AI visibility)

Goal: Understand baseline. If 22%, aim for 40-50% in 90 days (realistic improvement).

How soon can I run Signal again?

Immediately if needed, but recommended wait: 30-90 days.

Why wait?

• AI platforms take 2-4 weeks to index new content
• You need time to implement fixes (FAQs, blog posts, schema)
• Running Signal daily shows minimal change (AI doesn’t update that fast)

Recommended cadence:

• Fix content for 30-90 days
• Re-run Signal to measure improvement
• Repeat

What if my Presence Rate is 0% or very low?

Common for:

• Very new businesses (under 6 months online)
• Businesses with minimal content (1-page website)
• Industries where AI has limited training data

Not a failure. Signal revealed the gap. Now you know what to fix.

Action plan:

• Add 10-15 FAQ pages (answer buyer questions)
• Publish 5-10 blog posts (topics your personas search for)
• Add schema markup (LocalBusiness, Organization, Product)
• Re-run Signal in 90 days (likely 0% → 20-40%)

Do I get a refund if I don’t like my first Signal results?

Refund policy: 7-day money-back guarantee if Signal doesn’t deliver value.

Contact: hi@surmado.com with Intelligence Token and explain what didn’t meet expectations.

In practice: Most “low Presence Rate” results are still valuable (they reveal the gap you need to fix). But if Signal failed to deliver insights, we refund.

Can I change my personas after submitting?

No. Once Signal starts processing, personas are locked.

If you made a mistake:

• Let first Signal complete
• Run new Signal with corrected personas ($50 additional)
• Compare both reports (might reveal different insights)

Tip: Review personas carefully before submitting. Use 5-7 personas covering different buyer types to maximize insights.

What if I don’t understand my first Signal report?

Email hi@surmado.com with your Intelligence Token. Support will:

• Explain your metrics (Presence Rate, Authority Score, Ghost Influence)
• Clarify what your report means
• Recommend next steps based on your results

Typical questions:

• “My Presence Rate is 22%. Is that bad?” (Answer: Average for first-timers, aim for 40-50% in 90 days)
• “What does Ghost Influence 68% mean?” (Answer: AI knows your features but attributes them to competitors. Fix with FAQs and schema.)

Can I share my Signal report with my team?

Yes. You own the report. Share PDF with:

• Team members
• Clients (if you’re an agency)
• Stakeholders
• Consultants

Intelligence Token: Treat like password. Anyone with token can access JSON data. Share selectively.

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Ready to run your first Signal? Visit surmado.com/signal, submit 3-7 persona queries, and discover your AI visibility baseline in 15 minutes ($50).