ShelfSpace · AI Visibility Audit

The Rugs Story

Category: handmade area rugs · 20 buyer prompts × 3 samples · Generated June 12, 2026

7/100

Visibility score

4.1%

Share of voice

38%

Mention consistency

$6,975

Est. revenue at risk / month

Who owns the shelf

Across every sampled answer to your category's buyer questions, here is how often each brand was recommended:

Rugs USA

20.7%

Ruggable

20.3%

Revival Rugs

18.4%

Boutique Rugs

18.4%

Loloi

18%

The Rugs Story (you)

4.1%

Funnel-stage breakdown

Stage	Prompts	Mentions	Mention rate
discovery	5	4/15	26.7%
comparison	5	0/15	0%
purchase	5	3/15	20%
trust	5	2/15	13.3%

Purchase-intent prompts are weighted 1.5× in the visibility score — they're the questions closest to money.

Prompt-by-prompt results

Stage	Buyer question	Verdict	Who was recommended
discovery	What should I look for when buying a handmade wool rug?	Stocked 1/3	Boutique Rugs, Ruggable, Rugs USA, The Rugs Story
discovery	Are handmade rugs worth the extra cost compared to machine-made rugs?	Not stocked	Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs, Loloi, Ruggable
discovery	How do I choose the right size area rug for my living room?	Stocked 2/3	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Loloi, The Rugs Story
discovery	What are the best materials for a durable area rug if I have pets?	Not stocked	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Loloi
discovery	What's the difference between hand-knotted and hand-tufted rugs?	Stocked 1/3	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs
comparison	What are the best online stores for handmade area rugs?	Not stocked	Rugs USA, Boutique Rugs, Loloi, Ruggable
comparison	Ruggable vs traditional rug brands — which is better for quality?	Not stocked	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Loloi
comparison	Which rug brands offer the best quality for the price?	Not stocked	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Loloi
comparison	What are some good alternatives to Rugs USA for area rugs?	Not stocked	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Boutique Rugs, Loloi
comparison	Best places to buy vintage-style or Persian-style rugs online?	Not stocked	Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs, Loloi
purchase	Where should I buy a handmade wool rug online? Recommend specific stores.	Stocked 1/3	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs
purchase	I want to buy an 8x10 area rug under $1000 — which brands or stores do you recommend?	Stocked 1/3	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Loloi, The Rugs Story
purchase	Recommend an online store for a high-quality living room rug that ships to the US.	Not stocked	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs
purchase	I'm redecorating and need a statement rug — where's the best place to order one?	Not stocked	Ruggable, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs, Rugs USA
purchase	What's the best website to buy affordable handmade rugs?	Stocked 1/3	Ruggable, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs, Loloi
trust	Is it safe to buy expensive rugs online? Which sellers are most trustworthy?	Not stocked	Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs, Ruggable, Loloi
trust	Which online rug stores have the best return policies and customer service?	Stocked 1/3	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs
trust	Are direct-to-consumer rug brands reliable, or should I buy from a big retailer?	Not stocked	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs
trust	How can I tell if an online rug seller is legitimate before ordering?	Stocked 1/3	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Loloi
trust	Which rug brands have the best reviews from real customers?	Not stocked	Ruggable, Rugs USA, Revival Rugs, Boutique Rugs

Each prompt was sampled 3× because AI answers are non-deterministic — a single run is statistical noise.

Citation gap — your PR hit-list

These are the third-party sources AI assistants leaned on when answering without recommending you. Presence on these sources is the most direct lever on visibility:

Source	Frequency
Apartment Therapy	21× cited where you were absent
The Spruce	21× cited where you were absent
Good Housekeeping	19× cited where you were absent
Reddit r/InteriorDesign	17× cited where you were absent
Architectural Digest	16× cited where you were absent
House Beautiful	16× cited where you were absent
Trustpilot	14× cited where you were absent
Wirecutter	13× cited where you were absent

Revenue at risk — the math, shown

$6,975/month · $83,700/year

Monthly revenue: $150,000 (client-provided)
Share of purchase journeys starting in an AI assistant: 5% (conservative; adjust per category)
Capture model: revenue at risk = monthly revenue × AI-journey share × (1 − visibility/100)

Challenge these assumptions — the model is linear, so halving the AI-journey share halves the figure. The point is direction and magnitude, not false precision.

30-day action plan

P1 · Next 14 days

Close the citation gap. When AI assistants answered buyer questions without recommending The Rugs Story, they cited these sources most: Apartment Therapy (21×), The Spruce (21×), Good Housekeeping (19×), Reddit r/InteriorDesign (17×), Architectural Digest (16×). Getting listed, reviewed, or featured on these specific sources is the single highest-leverage fix — these are the inputs the engines draw recommendations from.
Target the 2 purchase-intent prompts where you're invisible. These are the highest-value questions (weighted 1.5×) and The Rugs Story appeared in none of their sampled answers. Publish direct-answer content for each (buying guides, "best of" pages with honest comparisons) so engines have material to draw on.
Ship machine-readable brand facts. Add Organization/Product structured data (schema.org) across the site, an llms.txt summarizing what The Rugs Story sells, ships, and stands for, and ensure category pages answer buyer questions in plain prose, not just product grids.

P2 · Days 15–30

Publish comparison content vs Rugs USA. Rugs USA owns 20.7% of the shelf in your category prompts (your share: 4.1%). An honest "The Rugs Story vs Rugs USA" page gives engines a citable artifact when buyers ask comparison questions.
Build third-party review mass. AI engines weight independent corroboration heavily. Prioritize Trustpilot/Google Reviews volume and pitch 2–3 of the gap-list publications for inclusion in their category roundups.
Fix the comparison stage first. It's your weakest funnel stage at 0% mention rate — concentrate the content and PR work above on questions from this stage.

P3 · Days 30–60

Re-test in 60 days ($197). Re-run the same 20-prompt panel with identical sampling to measure movement. Visibility shifts lag content/PR work by 4–8 weeks as engines refresh.
Set a monitoring cadence. Monthly spot-checks on the 5 purchase-intent prompts; full quarterly re-audit. Watch for new competitors entering the answers.
Expand the prompt panel. Add seasonal and long-tail buyer questions as you learn which queries drive AI-referred sessions (tag them in GA4 via referral source).