AI SEARCH VISIBILITY Sobeys

Where {{ clientShort }}
shows up in
the_answer▌

A research-grade read on how five AI models answer Canada's grocery questions, presented by Bold AI.

Canadians are increasingly
asking AI engines
"how to save on groceries."

When money's tight, the answer usually isn't {{ clientShort }}.

SCROLL ↓

JUL 21, 2026

INTRODUCTIONS

Your team.

Alan Macdonald

Co-Founder, Bold AI

Doctoral researcher in AI and best-selling co-author of The AI Revolution.

Alexandra Kolar

Advisory & GTM Lead

Enterprise marketer, performance strategist and GTM lead for podium iq.

TODAY

The agenda.

The shift

How discovery moved from links you click to answers you trust.

The platform

Research-grade measurement across five models, traceable to source.

The findings

What five models actually say when Canadians ask about groceries. Live run data.

The partnership

From insight to action: how we work together and what it costs.

PREAMBLE

This is more than a proposal. It's a live readout of an actual podium run, completed July 21st, with real insights about how AI sees Sobeys. Pay close attention to the findings.

SECTION 01 OF 04

The shift.

How discovery moved from links you click to answers you trust. Four changes that decide who gets found.

SHIFT 01

AI search is overtaking traditional search.

2028

AI-driven responses overtake traditional search.

Model traffic will soon be the single source of truth.

SHIFT 02 · LIVE

If you're not in the first 200 tokens, you're effectively invisible.

PROMPT

“{{ sampleQuery }}”

              Model: Claude Opus 4.7
              Web search: ON
            

TOKEN 000

Scroll. You're driving the model's output.

↓ KEEP SCROLLING TO REVEAL THE ANSWER

LIVE ANSWER

Won inside the window Lost after it

SHIFT 03

The journey now ends inside the answer. Not on your site.

Which grocery store should I shop at in Canada?

Canada's grocery market is led by a few national chains competing on price, quality and loyalty. Sobeys, owned by Empire, runs a full-service national network and the Scene+ rewards program, and is one of the most-cited names when shoppers ask where to buy groceries…

sobeys.com reddit.com walmart.ca

Decision made. The shopper never leaves.

Zero-click is real.

The question is asked, weighed and answered in one place. If the model doesn't cite you, the shopper never meets you.

SHIFT 04 · A SIDEWAYS JOURNEY

The evolution of discovery.

Four eras. Each one moves the decision further from your website, and deeper into the model.

KEEP SCROLLING →

sobeys.com

            FIG. 01 · THE URL
            VISIBILITY: YOURS
          

1 Direct load

You type the URL. The decision was already made.

best grocery store in Canada

            FIG. 02 · THE QUERY
            VISIBILITY: RANKED
          

2 Search

You type the question. The algorithm picks the answers you choose from.

I'm feeding a family of four in the GTA and grocery bills keep climbing. I want good produce, real savings and a loyalty program that's actually worth it. Which Canadian grocery chain should I switch to?

+Tools

            FIG. 03 · THE CONVERSATION
            WE ARE HERE
          

3 Answer engines

You share your whole situation, not just a keyword. It understands. It answers.

            FIG. 04 · THE GOAL
            VISIBILITY: MACHINE-READ
          

4 Agentic

You set the goal. AI handles the rest: research, comparison, booking.

BEFORE

The user did the work.

Several open tabs. Mixed results. Users stitched the answer together themselves.

NOW

The model does the work.

AI reads, decides, and cites credible sources. One confident answer.

In search you compete for rank. In AI you compete for inclusion.

SECTION 02 OF 04

The platform.

podium iq: research-grade measurement of how five models see your brand, with every insight traceable to its source.

Evidence-based visibility intelligence that shows exactly where your content falls out of the model's line of sight, and how to fix it.

01 · MEASURE

Continuous synthetic testing across 5 LLMs and thousands of queries.

02 · DIAGNOSE

Identifies your specific visibility gaps, and why they exist.

03 · ACT

A prioritized action engine that closes the gap in days, not months.

Tested across

Anthropic

OpenAI

Perplexity Grok

Grok

Google

SECTION 03 OF 04

The findings.

What the models say when Canadians ask how to shop and save on groceries — especially before they ever name a store. Run 1, live data, nothing left to opinion.

        best grocery store in canada · cheapest groceries in canada · sobeys vs walmart · grocery delivery & pickup · scene+ points value · affordable groceries · online grocery shopping · 
        best grocery store in canada · cheapest groceries in canada · sobeys vs walmart · grocery delivery & pickup · scene+ points value · affordable groceries · online grocery shopping · 
      

RUN 1 · {{ clientNameUpper }} · JUL 14, 2026

LIVE RUN DATA · TRACEABLE TO SOURCE

What we analyzed.

Branded and unbranded grocery questions across the full journey: best store overall, affordability and value, product quality, loyalty and Scene+, online and delivery, and how you stack up against Walmart, Loblaws, No Frills and Costco. 47 branded, 86 unbranded — and the unbranded ones are where new shoppers are won.

{{ nQueries }} queries analyzed

{{ nCitations }} model responses traced

{{ nSources }} unique source domains

{{ nTopics }} grocery topics

FINDING 01 · BRANDED VS UNBRANDED

The {{ visCbs }}% headline hides two very different realities.

{{ visCbs }}% reported average

{{ brandedVis }}% Branded when they name you · brand defence

{{ unbrandedVis }}% Unbranded when they don't · real discovery

{{ unbrandedVis }}% of unbranded answers mention you — the shopper who hasn't named you yet

The reported {{ visCbs }}% blends near-total brand defence with weak open-category discovery. Strip the branded prompts and you appear in fewer than half the answers a new shopper sees. That number — not {{ visCbs }} — is the one that should run the scorecard.

FINDING 02 · THE VALUE GAP

When money is tight, the answer isn't you.

Groceries are the cost Canadians feel most right now. When shoppers ask AI how to eat well for less, the models answer — but they reach for the discounters first.

↓ KEEP SCROLLING TO STEP THROUGH

AFFORDABILITY · IN THE SET 72%

You appear in 72% of affordability answers — on price, you're at least in the conversation.

"CHEAPEST" · WHO OWNS IT 89%

But No Frills owns "cheapest" at 89% and Walmart at 77%. On price you're compared, not chosen.

SAVING ADVICE · UNBRANDED 9.5%

Ask how to actually save on groceries and your unbranded coverage falls to 9.5%. The topic "win" is carried entirely by branded prompts.

You appear in 72% of affordability answers.

FINDING 03 · MODEL VARIANCE

Which AI they open changes how you show up.

Grok

{{ modelGrok }}%

Perplexity

{{ modelPerplexity }}%

Google

{{ modelGemini }}%

Anthropic

{{ modelClaude }}%

OpenAI

{{ modelChatgpt }}%

58% coverage when the model searches the live web — down from 63% on trained memory alone

Google and Grok lean on what they already know and cite you often. Turn on live web search and more alternatives crowd in — your inclusion slips. That is an authority problem, not a recognition one: the open web rewards the brands it can corroborate.

FINDING 04 · THE QUESTIONS YOU'RE MISSING

One in three value questions never says your name.

32% of unbranded questions — 23 of 72 — return zero Sobeys mentions across nine model runs each

Another 46% surface you in fewer than half their answers. The gaps cluster exactly where a stretched shopper is deciding: price, quality, trust and how to save.

HIGH-VALUE QUERIES · ZERO SOBEYS MENTIONS

0 / 9 "Where can I find affordable healthy groceries on a tight budget?"

0 / 9 "Best ways to save money on groceries without sacrificing quality"

0 / 9 "What is the most trusted grocery store for product quality?"

0 / 9 "Which grocery stores rank highest for product-quality satisfaction?"

0 / 9 "Where to buy premium-quality seafood at a grocery store?"

These are the questions Canadians actually type when money is tight. Answer them, and you enter the conversation you're missing.

FINDING 05 · YOUR OWN PAGES CAN'T BE READ

AI already cites your pages. It can barely read them.

Forty-five of your own URLs are cited by the models — but the pages doing that work are nearly invisible. 86.7% carry a blank or generic title. The fastest-payback lever isn't more content; it's making the pages AI already trusts legible.

YOUR 45 CITED PAGES · BY TITLE QUALITY

26blank title

13generic "sobeys.com"

6descriptive title

Unique titles, answer-first headings and structured data make these pages far easier for AI to interpret and cite.

WHERE AUTHORITY FORMS · TOP EXTERNAL DOMAINS

reddit.com

supermarketnews.com

narcity.com

dailyhive.com

en.wikipedia.org

Citation occurrences. These are the surfaces to earn, correct and corroborate on — especially when models search the live web.

Repair the pages AI already cites, then earn corroboration on the surfaces above. That is how unbranded discovery moves.

THE TOPIC MAP · 9 TOPICS, 133 QUERIES

Where you win.
Where you're contested.

WINNING

Sobeys vs competitors Grocery loyalty & Scene+ Best grocery store overall Online & delivery Brand defence (already saturated)

Comparisons, loyalty and delivery — where a shopper is already close to choosing — are decisively yours.

CONTESTED

Product quality · behind Whole Foods & Costco Affordability · behind No Frills & Walmart Grocery saving strategies People Also Asked · unbranded

The value and quality questions where new shoppers are formed. No Frills and Walmart own "affordable"; Whole Foods and Costco own "quality". This is where your next shopper is lost.

Every claim above is traceable to its source in the trace layer. Nothing is left to opinion.

THE PLAY · BUILD ONCE, DEPLOY EVERYWHERE

Modular content, deployed across the ecosystem.

The answer no longer lives on sobeys.com. Author one authoritative asset, atomize it once, then place the pieces on the third-party surfaces where the answer is actually formed. That is how you move beyond branded.com into the platforms and environments that accelerate exposure and awareness.

1 ASSET

THE CANONICAL ASSET One authoritative piece, authored once on sobeys.com. e.g. "Where to buy groceries in Canada: the complete value guide." Research, evidence, structure and schema done once — then fragmented into every format each channel can cite.

→ → →

OWNED 3SURFACES

The surfaces you fully control — fix the metadata, then let them anchor the story.

ATOMIZED INTO

· Value & weekly-flyer hub · Store locator & regional pages · Scene+ & rewards pages

sobeys.com sobeys.com/flyer sceneplus.ca

FEEDS · Sobeys-owned surfaces

EARNED · PR 5SURFACES

Where authority actually forms — the third-party surfaces models trust when they search the web.

ATOMIZED INTO

· Food-media & trade-press pickup · Reddit & community answers · Wikipedia & retail-directory citations

reddit.com supermarketnews.com narcity.com dailyhive.com

FEEDS · Reddit · News · Guides

PAID · PARTNER 3SURFACES

Platforms and partners you reach through listings, syndication and co-publishing.

ATOMIZED INTO

· Delivery-platform listings (Instacart, Voilà) · Flyer & deal-aggregator feeds · Loyalty & partner co-publishing

instacart.ca voila.ca flipp.com

FEEDS · Delivery & partner platforms

One authored asset, every surface in the ecosystem. Beyond branded.com — into the platforms and environments where awareness compounds.

SECTION 04 OF 04

The partnership.

From insight to action: how we work together, what it costs, and who does the lifting.

INVESTMENT

Insight doesn't move the needle. Action does.

Every level of partnership moves you closer to decisions and outcomes.

DONE BY YOU

DONE FOR YOU

Starts at$25K ONE-TIME REPORT

Podium Benchmark

A research-grade visibility report delivering competitive intelligence, funnel performance analysis, and prioritized content recommendations in a single readout.

GVI score across 3 AI models
Competitive benchmarking against 4 named competitors
Funnel stage breakdown showing where the brand wins and loses
Prioritized content recommendations ready to action
Delivered as PDF within 10 business days

INCLUDED 3 models · 344 queries · 4 competitors

Starts at$36K ANNUAL

Guided Intelligence

The intelligence, the strategy, and the expert in your corner. You execute. We make sure you never have to guess what to do next.

GVI score across 3 to 5 models
500 to 1,000 queries, 5 to 10 competitors
Always-on platform and visibility insights
AI prioritized recommendations for full-funnel visibility
Implementation battlecards, monthly strategic reviews, Slack support, system generated content

SCALES WITH Models · Query volume · Competitor count

Custom ANNUAL

Managed Intelligence

A cross-functional AI visibility team embedded into yours. Full execution velocity without the learning curve or hiring timeline.

Everything in Guided Intelligence
Cross-functional Share of Model pod embedded with your team
Dedicated support and quarterly business planning
Time-to-citation monitoring and early access to new features

FULLY CUSTOM SCOPE Designed around the Share of Model pod and your system requirements

Pricing based on annual contract.

PROVEN AT SCALE TD runs this model across every line of business. The same pod structure, deployed enterprise-wide at Canada's largest bank.

MANAGED EXECUTION

The Share of Model Pod: strategy meets execution velocity.

SOM Strategist SOM Advisory Digital Content Strategist Data & Insights SEO Lead Copywriter Content Ops Lead Scrum Master Art Director UX Lead Product SMEs Approval Chain

Podium provides {{ clientShort }} provides

4 weeks

Speed. To operational, versus 4 to 6 months coordinating across departments.

Consistency. One unified narrative across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI.

Measurable lift. Visibility, first-mention rates and citation authority tracked sprint by sprint.

One continuous sprint loop.

01Set up queries

02Analyze battlecards

03Content strategy

04Draft briefs

05Brief the pod

06Develop content

07Publish

08Re-run & measure

09Optimize ↺

Two dials drive pod investment: configuration (Core / Full / Custom pod) and sprint pace (6 or 8 sprints per year). Each sprint ships 6 to 12 battlecard-driven assets.

6-month minimum commitment. Final pricing determined through discussion of scope, goals, and capability requirements.

WHY PODIUM IQ

Results this quarter, not next year.

Built for operators, not presentations

Intelligence that spots the gaps, pods that ship the fixes: 10 to 30 pieces of content per month built for model dominance.

Validated by the best

Accenture's AI Search partner. TD Bank, Samsung, Rona, Raymond James, Bauer Hockey, Canada Goose, Hockey Canada.

Signal over noise

Data that drives decisions, not another dashboard that leaves your team drowning in metrics.

An extension of your team

Weekly working sessions, dedicated experts, mid-market speed without enterprise overhead.

Do you want to own the podium, or watch from the stands?

1Sobeys

Alan Macdonald 416.206.3244 alan@experiencebold.ai podiumiq.ai

Where {{ clientShort }} shows up in the_answer▌

Canadians are increasingly asking AI engines"how to save on groceries."

When money's tight, the answer usually isn't {{ clientShort }}.

Your team.

Alan Macdonald

Alexandra Kolar

The agenda.

The shift

The platform

The findings

The partnership

This is more than a proposal. It's a live readout of an actual podium run, completed July 21st, with real insights about how AI sees Sobeys. Pay close attention to the findings.

The shift.

AI search is overtaking traditional search.

If you're not in the first 200 tokens, you're effectively invisible.

The journey now ends inside the answer. Not on your site.

The evolution of discovery.

1 Direct load

2 Search

3 Answer engines

4 Agentic

The user did the work.

The model does the work.

In search you compete for rank. In AI you compete for inclusion.

The platform.

Evidence-based visibility intelligence that shows exactly where your content falls out of the model's line of sight, and how to fix it.

The findings.

What we analyzed.

The {{ visCbs }}% headline hides two very different realities.

When money is tight, the answer isn't you.

Which AI they open changes how you show up.

One in three value questions never says your name.

AI already cites your pages. It can barely read them.

Where you win.Where you're contested.

Modular content, deployed across the ecosystem.

The partnership.

Insight doesn't move the needle. Action does.

Podium Benchmark

Guided Intelligence

Managed Intelligence

The Share of Model Pod: strategy meets execution velocity.

One continuous sprint loop.

Results this quarter, not next year.

Built for operators, not presentations

Validated by the best

Signal over noise

An extension of your team

Do you want to own the podium, or watch from the stands?

Where {{ clientShort }}
shows up in
the_answer▌

Canadians are increasingly
asking AI engines
"how to save on groceries."

Where you win.
Where you're contested.