Cargo Basics: building AI search visibility from zero.

Why I’m doing this

Most SEO portfolios show results from client accounts you can’t check. I wanted something anyone can look at: a real site, built in public, with the method visible.

Freight and customs is a good test. Importers ask detailed, expensive questions about costs, documents and rules, and more of them now ask AI assistants first. Buyers in most industries now research the same way.

What was built

• September 2026Launched on a new domain with four answer-first guides on freight costs and customs.
• October 2026Grew to 14 guides covering the US, UK, EU and Australia, each with clear next steps and sources from customs authorities.
• October 2026Added eight free tools: demurrage, landed cost, CBM, volumetric weight, FCL vs LCL and detention calculators, an Incoterms chart and a shipping documents checklist. Each one emails a PDF report.
• NextTracking a fixed set of buyer questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google, and publishing what gets picked up and what doesn’t.

The method

• Answer first. Every guide answers the main question in the opening lines, then goes into detail.
• Built to be quoted. Clear headings, tables, definitions and sources an assistant can lift without guessing.
• Tools, not just articles. Calculators give people a reason to come back and give other sites a reason to link.
• Clean technical base. Fast pages, structured data, a clean sitemap, and nothing hidden behind JavaScript.

What this means for you

The industry is different. The problem is the same: buyers asking detailed questions before they ever talk to anyone. If it works for a brand-new site with no history, it works for a business that already has one.