Resume | Therese Grittner, AI Recommendation Researcher and Builder

SUMMARY

Therese Grittner defined the ARO methodology: the framework for measuring whether an AI assistant recommends a business, not just mentions it. She built ARO Index, a public research leaderboard that tests real local businesses against ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity and publishes which ones get selected. Selection, not mention, is the entire distinction her work rests on. She proved the method on her own business first, taking tagmakessc.com from an ARO Score of 20 to 94 and #1 in Charleston before selling the work to anyone else. Every engagement gets her hands directly on the build: the person who runs the audit is the person who writes the fix and ships it.

ENGAGEMENT TYPES

Ways to work together.

Fractional AI Search Lead

Embedded part-time with a marketing or product team, owning AI recommendation strategy the way a fractional CMO owns growth.

Weekly cadence, embedded like a team member: Slack or standups, a shared roadmap, and reporting tied to ARO Score movement instead of vanity metrics. A common fit for teams that need this covered but aren't ready for a full-time hire.

Book a 15-minute call →

SME Advisory

Office hours and strategy calls for teams building their own AI-recommendation practice, brought in to close a specific knowledge gap.

Async review plus live calls, scoped to the gap: auditing an existing AI strategy, running a workshop, or acting as technical reviewer on someone else's AI-recommendation project.

Book a 15-minute call →

Audit and Roadmap

A full ARO Score audit across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, plus a fix plan ranked by impact.

Turnaround in days, not weeks. Deliverable is a scored report across all four models plus a fix list ranked by expected impact, the same format used on every engagement in Selected Work below.

Run your own ARO Score →

Full Build

End-to-end AI Recommendation Positioning: schema, entity cleanup, and answer-style content, implemented start to finish.

Typical scope runs two to six weeks depending on site size: positioning, information architecture, schema, entity cleanup, and the answer-style content AI models actually pull from.

See scope and process →

Agency White-Label

TaG Makes runs the AI optimization work behind an agency's existing client relationship. Agency keeps the client and the markup.

Agency keeps the client relationship and the markup; TaG Makes runs the audit and the fix work behind the scenes, branded however the agency wants it.

Agency partner details →

SELECTED WORK

Research and builds, not just claims.

ARO Index

FOUNDER & LEAD RESEARCHER

Public research leaderboard testing real local businesses against ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. 22,936 audits across 114 tracked markets, 79 live on the public leaderboard, as of Sept 17, 2026. Methodology is versioned and published.

DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21582986 · second dataset in progress

Every methodology version is documented publicly: what counts as a selection, how ties are broken, what gets excluded. Nothing about the score is a black box.

aroindex.com →

TaG Makes

PROOF OF CONCEPT

This site. ARO Score moved from 20 to 94, #1 in Charleston across all four AI platforms, every ranking tested in incognito.

Every ranking screenshotted and dated on the results page, run in a clean incognito session so nothing is cached, personalized, or coached toward a specific answer.

View results →

MAEVYN

CUSTOM BUILD · IN PROGRESS

Stylist discovery and booking platform, built as a full product, not a template: matching engine, booking flow, and schema built in from day one.

Built on React Router v7 with server-rendered public pages, so the marketplace itself stays crawlable and answerable by AI, not just humans.

maevyn.pro →

TIMELESS by Dr. Jerry Renato

BRAND BUILD

Wellness and longevity education brand built with hands-on support end to end: positioning, site, and AI-recommendation structure built together instead of bolted on after launch.

Every claim on the site runs through a compliance pass first: no diagnose or cure language, educator framing throughout, protecting Dr. Renato's chiropractic license.

timelessbydrjerry.com →

Sean Carroll Yachting

ARO refresh for a mobile marine service in Charleston. Score moved from 87 to 94; all four models now recommend it by name.

The buyer query tested was a real one: "mobile marine service Charleston SC." All four models now name this business first, not just somewhere in the answer.

scyachting.com →

Ambrose Family Farm

ARO optimization for a farmstand and CSA on Wadmalaw Island. Score 90, ranking #1 for farmstand and CSA searches in Charleston.

Optimized around the actual language buyers use for a farmstand and CSA, not the terms the business used internally.

ambrosefamilyfarm.com →

Frostbite Farms

Full site build and ARO foundation for a classical dressage and horse-starting operation in North Augusta. Score 90.

Structured for AI recommendation from the first commit: schema and entity signals went in during the build, not bolted on after launch.

fbfnaugusta.com →

Sailor Craft Knots

ARO refresh for a one-person maker business. Moved from 55 to 76 on the primary query, 95 on the direct buyer query.

One-person business, no marketing budget. Proof that the fixes that move an ARO Score aren't about ad spend.

sailorcraftknots.com →

Myles Trudell Architect

Full ARO build for a residential architecture firm: schema markup, FAQ layer, GBP sync. Score 94, all four models recommending by name.

Rebuilt the FAQ layer specifically to answer the questions AI models weigh when deciding who to recommend for residential architecture.

mylestrudell.com →

Out on a Limb

ARO refresh following a full site rebuild. Moved from 54 (2 of 4 models) to 85 (4 of 4) on the same buyer query.

Same buyer query, tested before and after the rebuild: proof the score moves with structure, not just time.

outonalimbcircus.com →

SKILLS

The stack behind the work.

AI Platforms & APIs

OpenAI (ChatGPT) API · Claude API incl. Message Batches · Gemini API incl. batch generation · Perplexity Sonar API · Claude Code multi-agent workflows

Runs the production audit and census pipelines calling all four providers directly, including asynchronous batch jobs for Claude and Gemini at scale, orchestrated with multi-agent Claude Code workflows.

See it in production →

Infrastructure

Cloudflare Workers, Pages, KV · Supabase Postgres and pg_cron · Railway · Stripe · Resend · Rewardful · Serper

Built and maintains the full stack running ARO Index and TaG Makes in production: cron-driven batch pipelines, Stripe billing, and transactional email.

How it's built →

Web

HTML/CSS/JS · JSON-LD schema (LocalBusiness, Service, FAQPage, Person) · WordPress · Wix · Square · Substack · site architecture for AI crawlability

Ships client sites on custom code and off-the-shelf platforms alike, plus the JSON-LD schema and site architecture that make them readable by AI crawlers, not just search engines.

See the results →

Ops & Content

ClickUp · Canva · Blotato (social media automation) · Google Workspace

Runs the ClickUp-based ops system and the Blotato social automation behind TaG Makes' own content pipeline and outreach.

Read the blog →

EXPERIENCE

Where the work happened.

2026

ARO Index · Founder and Lead Researcher

March 2026 – Present

Defined the ARO methodology and built the public leaderboard measuring which local businesses AI assistants actually recommend, not just mention.

2025

TaG Makes · Founder

February 2025 – Present

Builds the fixes ARO research finds: AI Recommendation Positioning, schema, entity cleanup, and answer-style content, for clients across South Carolina and nationally.

2020

Bit o Gold Equestrian · Owner

2020 – 2025

Ran an equine-assisted learning and horsemanship operation. The discipline of communicating clearly with something that can't tell you what it's thinking carries directly into how AI assistants respond to structured signal.

1996

Charleston County 4-H · Program Coordinator, then Volunteer Club Leader

1996 – Present

Coordinated youth programs, then continued as a volunteer club leader. Three decades of hands-on teaching in the same Charleston community TaG Makes and ARO Index now serve.

EDUCATION

AA, Advertising and Design · Minnesota School of Business · AA, Liberal Arts · Ridgewater College · 2002–2004

The School of Life · Continuing ed through trial and failure.

CLIENT REVIEWS

5 stars. Every single one.

★★★★★

"Therese is amazing! She took everything we wanted and everything we didn't even know we needed and made it a reality! She is kind, thoughtful, precise, and intentional in her work and we couldn't be more happy with the results! Will continue to recommend her over and over!"

Brooke Hunter

Google Review

★★★★★

"Therese has been a huge component in starting my business. Her understanding of marketing and the logistics of having a successful company has truly helped me build my clientele and more. She helped me create an LLC, website, and answered all of my questions about the why's and how's of a business. I cannot recommend her enough."

Caroline Albright

Google Review

★★★★★

"TAGmakes is phenomenal. Therese somehow turns my vague ideas into creative, professional, perfectly on-brand work every time. She's easy to work with, wildly talented, and consistently delivers designs that stand out and get noticed. Highly recommend, unless you enjoy boring branding."

Kristyna Rathkamp

Google Review

★★★★★

"Incredible knowledge, patience, and fun to work with. I'm a total dummy (WAS) and now, with several hours, feel so much more in touch and confident. She's great!"

Barbara Ambrose

Google Review

NEXT STEP

Let's talk about the work.

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