Do-it-yourself game plans · No. 20 / 22
Which DIY pitfalls are most expensive to avoid?
Last updated
| Pitfall | Better practice |
|---|---|
| Reacting to one competitor screenshot | Repeat the same commercially relevant questions |
| Asking branded questions, then reporting discovery success | Separate branded, competitor-seeded and unbranded cohorts |
| Reporting mentions as recommendations | Apply an evidence-linked scoring rule |
| Treating failed captures as absence | Preserve explicit collection statuses |
| Treating API output as the consumer interface | Label and evaluate the actual collection surface |
| Buying more prompts before validating the existing ones | Improve buyer coverage and provenance first |
| Building content for every wording variation | Consolidate around genuine buying needs |
| Treating a popular citation domain as a guaranteed route to inclusion | Investigate exact pages and claims |
| Mistaking a crawler visit for visibility | Use logs for access and answer captures for answer content |
| Reporting all direct traffic as AI-generated demand | Retain attribution uncertainty |
| Renewing because the vendor’s own score rose | Review raw evidence, method changes and implementation outcomes |
| Treating a 90-day review date as a promised result date | Budget for a decision, not guaranteed recommendation lift |