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Case Study · Destination Ann Arbor
Destination Ann Arbor Sees 30% AI growth in four months with NextTown
How a leading Michigan DMO grew its AI search visibility, rebuilt its content strategy, and grew visitor share by working with NextTown AI.
AI search visibility climbed from 39% to 51% in just four months
39%
Baseline
at engagement start
51%
Month 4
of tracked AI prompts
+12 pts
Absolute lift
in share of AI answers
~31%
Relative gain
from where the destination started
Visibility is the share of tracked, destination-relevant AI prompts in which Ann Arbor appears. In just the first four months, Ann Arbor has far outpaced their competitive set and grown AI visibility, sentiment, and position in prompt outputs.
The Challenge
Travelers stopped Googling and started asking AI
Traveler discovery behavior was changing drastically. People were turning to AI as a trusted source for trip planning and recommendations. It was really important to us to be able to pivot and be represented in those AI search responses.
Long-tail, conversational queries
Searches moved from keywords to full questions AI can answer end to end.
Content rebuilt for AI
Q&A formats, concise snippets, and structured lists replaced long-form pages.
A new source of truth
DMOs risk losing authority if they aren't cited in the AI answer itself.
The Solution
A complete AI search optimization pipeline
Plan, implement, and analyze. NextTown runs the full cycle so your destination shows up in the right queries in the right ways.
01
Campaign Planning
Collaborate to identify the AI prompts that map to the destination's specific goals and initiatives.
02
Content Implementation
NextTown's specialists execute campaigns using proven strategies to boost the destination's visibility.
03
Analytics & Reporting
Track sentiment scores, visibility metrics, and campaign performance in real-time dashboards and reports.
Inside the platform
The tools Ann Arbor reaches for every week
Content Engine
Surfaces content gaps, shows what competitors win on, and hands back specific formatting and structure recommendations.
"It gives you actionable recommendations for how to structure and format the content. That has been my favorite tool."
Reddit & UGC Alerts
Flags every thread where the destination is discussed, so the team can engage where AI actually pulls its answers from.
"I can't be everywhere on Reddit where Ann Arbor is being discussed, but the Reddit alerts have been really helpful."
The Impact
From insight to a sharper content strategy
Competitive gaps, found
Reveals where other Michigan destinations win on specific prompts, and where Ann Arbor can claim the topic.
A data-led blog roadmap
Gap analysis now feeds the blog calendar and net-new landing pages the team didn't have before.
UGC as a real channel
Recognizing how heavily AI leans on Reddit, the team is extending its playbook to Quora and beyond.
It's helping us see what competitors are doing well. It's been able to help us find gaps, and that's been a game changer for our blog strategy and our content strategy.
We get pitches all the time. What I love about NextTown is that we can literally make real-time changes in our marketing and content. We can pivot on a dime and see immediate results. It is probably the best tool I've ever worked with in that regard.
Working with NextTown
[The recurring meetings] have been super helpful. The team has been great and very responsive.
Put your community on the AI search map.
See exactly where your destination stands today with a complimentary AI search audit.
Free AI search audit
Know your visibility and sentiment baseline.
Dedicated collaboration
A specialist sets up campaigns and goals.
Real-time dashboards
Track every prompt, competitor, and trend.