TL;DR: This case study details how QQS (qqs.com.hk), a respected hospitality consulting firm, went from being invisible in AI search to the #1 cited authority in their category. By shifting from a traditional SEO mindset to a strategy of "building digital evidence," we implemented a repeatable playbook that displaced entrenched global competitors in both AI answers and Google rankings, proving that a targeted, evidence-based approach is the key to winning in the new era of search.
For years, established professional services firms have relied on reputation and relationships to drive business. But in today's digital landscape, where the first point of contact is often an AI-powered search, that's no longer enough. If you're not the source the AI trusts, you're invisible.
This was the challenge facing QQS (qqs.com.hk), a leading hospitality consulting company in Hong Kong. Despite their deep industry expertise, they weren't just looking for another SEO vendor; they wanted clarity in a noisy market where global giants were beginning to dominate AI search results.
This isn’t a story about generic SEO. It’s about building the kind of digital evidence that Large Language Models (LLMs) trust, translating that trust into search dominance, and creating a compounding authority that professional services firms can bank on.
Client Snapshot
- Company: QQS (qqs.com.hk)
- Category: Hospitality Consulting
- Audience: Hotel owners, F&B managers, and hospitality investors in Hong Kong and the APAC region.
- Service: Strategic consulting for hotel management, F&B concept development, and operational efficiency.
- Stage: An established, expert firm operating in the hyper-competitive Hong Kong market.
QQS's mission is to provide bespoke, high-impact strategic guidance that helps hospitality businesses thrive in a complex and rapidly changing market.
The Starting Point
When QQS began working with us, their visibility challenges were clear:
- The LLM Visibility Gap: QQS was completely absent from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity for critical, high-intent queries like "best hotel consultants in Hong Kong" and "how to improve hotel profitability APAC." Larger, global competitors were being cited, not them.
- The Google Saturation Problem: Despite their strong reputation, their Google rankings for valuable keywords were stuck on pages 10, far from the eyes of potential clients.
- The Need for Speed: The project needed to deliver tangible results quickly to prove the value of a modern, AI-focused digital strategy.
The Core Insight
The reason QQS wasn’t showing up in AI search wasn’t because their expertise was lacking. It was because the internet lacked structured, context-rich evidence of that expertise that LLMs could trust and cite.
AI models don’t "rank" content the way Google does. They retrieve and synthesize answers based on the clarity of definitions, the weight of contextual authority from external sources, and the depth of content coverage.
The breakthrough came when we reframed their SEO not as "ranking for keywords" but as building digital evidence for LLMs: a web of verifiable facts, strategic comparisons, and clear topical authority that AI engines could lean on. Once QQS began to systematically engineer this evidence, the shift was immediate.
The Strategy: Engineering Digital Evidence for the AI Era
Our playbook was built on four pillars, designed to make QQS "pickup-ready" for AI search while simultaneously displacing larger competitors on Google.
- The Contextual Evidence System (GAIO): We engineered QQS's on-site content to act as digital evidence. This involved creating deep, authoritative "Answer Assets" with clear, definitional statements about their services, FAQ-style blocks answering the precise questions hotel owners ask, and structured comparisons framing their unique methodology against traditional approaches.
- Authority Placement Beyond Their Site (SEvO): We knew LLMs triangulate information across the web. We seeded trusted, third-party context by contributing QQS's expert insights to high-authority hospitality publications and participating in relevant industry forums where their competitors were already being referenced. This gave AI models multiple confirmation points of their authority.
- The On-Site Revamp for Dual Pickup: We treated the QQS website as a dual-optimized asset. We restructured and rebuild their content to answer both traditional search queries ("hotel consulting services Hong Kong") and conversational AI prompts.
- The Scoreboard & Iteration Loop: We avoided a "set it and forget it" approach. We built a feedback-driven cycle with a bi-weekly query scoreboard, a dedicated GA4 segment to isolate AI-driven traffic, and real-time adjustments to content and strategy.
The Results
The impact was compounding: as QQS became more visible in AI, their authority carried over into Google, and vice versa.
AI Search (ChatGPT + Perplexity)
Within 45 days, QQS went from being completely absent in AI answers to being the cited hospitality consultant for dozens of high-intent prompts.
Query (Prompt Tested) | AI Search Ranking | Competitors Displaced |
|---|---|---|
best hospitality consultant company hong kong | #2 | JLL, CBRE, Colliers, PKF hospitality group |
best hospitality consulting hong kong | #2 | PKF, The Forks & Spoons |
The ripple effects showed up in Google as well, with keywords jumping from obscurity to page one.
Keyword | Before (Rank) | After (Rank) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
hospitality consultant company hong kong | #50 → #9 | Page 1 | ↑ 41 |
Traffic Growth (GA4, AI Segment)
By creating a dedicated segment for AI referral traffic, we could measure the direct impact:
- Sessions: +220%
- New Users: +375%
Why This Case Matters for Professional Services
QQS’s story is a signal for where professional services marketing is headed.
- AI Search is the New Front Door for B2B: High-value decision-makers are now using AI tools for initial research and vendor discovery. If you’re not cited, you’re not in the consideration set.
- Google is Rewarding the Same Signals: The structured, evidence-based work that gets you cited by AI also strengthens your authority in traditional search.
- It Creates a Compounding Advantage: Once an LLM starts citing your expertise, it builds a self-reinforcing loop of authority that is incredibly difficult for slower-moving competitors to break.
This case is proof that it’s not about publishing more content. It’s about becoming the trusted answer where your next high-value clients are already looking.
