Lullabot wins on ChatGPT.
Not Hounder.
An independent 25-query audit of Hounder’s visibility across AI-powered search platforms. We tested the exact questions government IT directors, university web leaders, and enterprise digital officers ask when evaluating Drupal agency partners.
Hounder won Acquia Partner of the Year 2023 and Pantheon Partner of the Year 2024. AI doesn’t know.
When a government IT director asks ChatGPT “Which agencies are certified Acquia partners for government Drupal?” — Lullabot, Promet Source, and Phase2 get cited. Not Hounder. When a university web director asks Claude “Who builds Drupal multi-site for higher ed?” — Four Kitchens and Palantir.net appear. Not Hounder. That’s not a branding problem. That’s a pipeline problem.
Methodology
How we conducted this Xtrusio AEO/GEO Audit
This assessment combines Semrush AI Visibility data with manual buyer-intent query testing across AI platforms to reveal the real competitive landscape for Hounder — going beyond automated scores to test what government and university decision-makers actually ask.
Why Semrush AI Visibility Misses the Real Story
A score of 15/100 tells you almost nothing — the platform breakdown tells you everything
Semrush AI Visibility gives Hounder a score of 15/100. That’s low — but the real problem isn’t the number. It’s where that visibility comes from. 100% of Hounder’s AI mentions come from Google AI Overviews. Zero from ChatGPT. Zero from Gemini. The platforms where buyers have conversations — completely dark.
| Company | Semrush Score | Monthly Audience | Mentions | ChatGPT | Gemini | Buyer-Intent Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hounder | 15/100 | 2.7M +10.7K | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0% (all platforms) |
| Promet Source | 19/100 | 1.2M -20.2K | 100 | 5 | 15 | Not tested |
| Mobomo | 14/100 | 62.6K -12.8K | 31 | 8 | 8 | Not tested |
Semrush scores Hounder at 15/100, but the critical insight is the platform distribution: ChatGPT 0, Gemini 0. All 19 mentions come from Google AI Overviews (18) and AI Mode (1). Meanwhile, the topics Semrush tracks for Hounder are almost entirely irrelevant to actual buyer queries: Marketo Email Marketing (17), CAS Login (14), Figma to WordPress Conversion (7), and Headless UI React Libraries (11). Not a single tracked topic matches “government Drupal agency” or “university CMS migration.”
Promet Source (19/100) has 5x Hounder’s mentions (100 vs 19) and is present on all four AI platforms including ChatGPT (5) and Gemini (15). Mobomo scores slightly lower (14/100) but has balanced platform distribution — 8 mentions each on ChatGPT and Gemini. Both competitors have what Hounder lacks: conversational AI platform presence driven by structured, topical content that AI models can cite.
Semrush AI Visibility tracks the wrong universe for Hounder — Marketo marketing and CAS authentication instead of government Drupal and university CMS migration. This is why we use Xtrusio’s buyer-intent methodology to test what real decision-makers actually ask during agency discovery. Semrush says 15/100. Our test says 0/75.
Platform Scorecard
Who wins the government and university buyer’s attention
We tested 25 buyer-intent queries across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Hounder was cited on zero queries across all three platforms. Here’s who dominated instead.
The Invisible Brand
Acquia Partner of the Year. Pantheon Partner of the Year. Zero AI citations.
This isn’t a platform-specific gap. Hounder is invisible on every AI platform, across every query category. When any buyer asks any AI assistant about Drupal agencies for government, higher education, accessibility, or enterprise — Hounder doesn’t exist.
“Which web agencies are certified Acquia partners and specialize in government and public sector Drupal implementations?”
This is the single most damaging miss in the entire audit. Hounder is a certified Acquia partner. Hounder won Acquia Partner of the Year. Yet when a government buyer asks AI specifically about certified Acquia partners for government work, every AI platform recommends competitors instead. The award that should be Hounder’s strongest sales signal is completely invisible to AI.
“We’re a water utility with a citizen-facing website that handles bill payment — what CMS and what kind of agency should we be working with?”
This query describes Hounder’s exact client profile. LA Department of Water & Power is one of the largest municipal utilities in the US, and Hounder built their website. Yet no AI platform connects Hounder to this buyer scenario. The case study exists in Hounder’s portfolio — but not in AI’s training data.
“Which digital agencies have won Acquia or Pantheon partnership awards — and what does that actually mean for the quality of work?”
Hounder has built 150+ enterprise websites for government agencies, utilities, universities, and healthcare systems. It has won the two most prestigious Drupal ecosystem awards in back-to-back years. None of this exists in the content ecosystem that feeds AI platforms. Competitors with similar capabilities but stronger content footprints — blog posts, Drupal.org contributions, conference presentations, published case studies — own every AI response. This is entirely fixable.
AI Positioning Audit
All 25 buyer-intent queries — citation results across all three platforms
Click any row to reveal the exact question tested. Every row shows the same result: Hounder absent across all three platforms.
| # | Query Topic | Cluster | ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Citations (of 25) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Citation Rate | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||
Topic Cluster Heatmap
Every cluster. Every platform. Zero.
Unlike audits where gaps are platform-specific, Hounder’s invisibility is universal. Every topic cluster shows 0% citation rate across every platform.
Recommendations
From invisible to cited — a content strategy built for AI discovery
Hounder’s 0% citation rate is actually an opportunity: competitors haven’t locked in dominance yet, and the right content can shift AI positioning quickly. The strategy focuses on turning existing wins into publishable, AI-discoverable assets.
- LADWP case study: Publish a structured case study titled “How Hounder Rebuilt LADWP.com for 4M+ Utility Customers on Drupal.” Include problem/solution/results format with specific metrics. Target: Q12 (water utility) and Q22 (utilities/transportation).
- Acquia/Pantheon awards page: Create a dedicated “Awards & Partnerships” page explaining what Acquia Partner of the Year 2023 and Pantheon Partner 2024 mean, with structured data markup. Target: Q4, Q19, Q25.
- Government services landing page: Build a “Government & Public Sector Drupal Development” page with buyer-intent Q&A format and schema markup. Target: Q1, Q3, Q4, Q17.
- Drupal 7 to 10 migration guide: Long-form guide titled “Government Drupal 7 Migration: Timeline, Costs, and Best Practices” answering Q2, Q5, Q10 directly. Hounder’s migration experience is real — AI just needs the content.
- Higher ed multi-site case study: Publish a Cal Poly or university case study answering “How to manage 40+ department websites on a single CMS.” Target: Q6, Q7, Q13, Q20.
- Accessibility compliance showcase: Detailed page on Hounder’s WCAG 2.1 AA approach with specific project examples. Promet Source dominates accessibility queries — this is a direct competitive play. Target: Q8, Q14.
- Blog series: “US-Based Drupal Agency” positioning: 3-4 posts positioning Hounder’s 100% US-based team as a differentiator for government security requirements. Target: Q21 directly.
- Drupal.org contributions: Publish contributed modules, write documentation, participate in Drupal.org case studies. Lullabot and Palantir.net built their AI presence through years of community contributions.
- Industry media placements: Earned features in GovTech, Government Technology Magazine, and EDUCAUSE Review framing Hounder as a government/higher ed Drupal specialist. These publications are heavily indexed by AI models.
- Schema markup rollout: Implement Organization, LocalBusiness, FAQPage, and Service schema across all service and case study pages. Make Hounder’s content explicitly structured for AI citation.
From Invisible to Cited. The Window is Now.
Before Lullabot and Promet Source cement their AI dominance, let’s build the content layer Hounder needs.
