About Ascent AI Search
As search behavior shifts toward AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google Overviews, many buyers now rely on AI-generated summaries and recommendations when choosing service providers.
Ascent AI Search helps owner-led professional service firms become clearly understood, confidently recommended, and accurately cited by both AI systems and search engines — where early consideration increasingly happens.
We work with firms that rely on inbound search for growth but don't have in-house expertise to adapt their SEO and content for AI-powered search.
Our Mission
Why We Built Ascent AI Search
Search is changing quickly
AI systems now summarize options, recommend providers, and influence which businesses receive visibility—often before a prospect clicks a traditional search result.
Many firms are discovering that even strong websites and years of SEO effort don't automatically translate into AI visibility.
Ascent AI Search was built to address this gap. Rather than focusing on rankings alone, we help businesses improve the underlying signals that AI systems and search engines use to understand, evaluate, and recommend services—combining technical SEO, content clarity, and AI readability into a single, execution-focused approach.
Leadership
Leadership
Alvin Carlos, CFP®, CFA
Founder & CEO
Alvin Carlos is the Founder & CEO of Ascent AI Search and the founder of District Capital Management, a fee-only financial advisory firm serving professionals in their 30s and 40s. He holds a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Through building search-driven inbound growth, Alvin developed expertise in SEO and AI-powered search visibility (GEO), and launched Ascent AI Search to help professional service firms improve discoverability in AI and organic search and convert that visibility into qualified inbound leads.
Jessica Hanneman
Director of SEO & AI Search
Jessica Hanneman is the Director of SEO & AI Search at Ascent AI Search and leads search strategy and execution across client engagements. She also leads digital marketing execution for District Capital Management, where she has helped support sustained inbound growth through search.
With 14 years of experience across SEO, content, and analytics, Jess specializes in improving visibility through clear messaging, strong site structure, and disciplined search execution. At Ascent AI Search, she helps professional service firms show up more consistently across AI-powered search and Google, strengthening the visibility and recommendation signals that drive inbound opportunities.
Our Approach
How We Approach AI Search Optimization
Practical and execution-focused
We start by analyzing how a business currently appears in AI search tools and Google, identifying gaps that prevent clear understanding or confident recommendation.
From there, we prioritize fixes that improve entity clarity, content structure, and technical foundations—so AI systems and search engines can accurately interpret who the business serves and what it offers.
Rather than relying on tools or dashboards alone, we focus on implementing the changes that matter most, then measuring visibility and citation signals over time.
HOW WE WORK
Our principles
These principles guide how we work, what we take on, and how we measure success.
Clarity over hype
We explain what's happening, what's changing, and why it matters — without exaggeration or jargon.
Durable results over short-term wins
We focus on visibility foundations that compound over time, not tactics that break with the next algorithm update.
Evidence-led execution
We prioritize work based on real signals from AI systems and search behavior, not opinions or outdated playbooks.
Continuous learning and adaptation
AI-powered search is evolving quickly. We actively test, measure, and refine how we deliver value — for our clients and our own business.
What we don't do
We're equally explicit about what we won't do.
We don't guarantee rankings or revenue outcomes.
No one controls AI models or search algorithms. We focus on measurable visibility progress and sound fundamentals instead.
We don't lock clients into long-term contracts.
Our work starts with a defined 90-day sprint, then continues month-to-month only if it makes sense.
We don't work with direct competitors in the same niche and region.
Once we take on a client, we protect that search lane.
We don't rely on outdated SEO tactics or generic playbooks.
Our approach is built for AI-powered search and adapts as models and behavior evolve.