Liverpool digital marketing agency Castle International invests £350,000 to create two new divisions focusing on AI search and automation. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool digital marketing agency Castle International is looking to grow its AI offering for clients with the creation of two new divisions.

Based at Mann Island on the waterfront, Castle has invested £350,000 in the new departments. One helps businesses get recommended by AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, the other uses AI automation to help firms cut costs and scale.

Both ventures have now gone live after six months of development. The investment covers new technology, resources and staff. The two departments run separately and bring the 20-strong agency’s offering to 12 services in total.

Castle has spent the past 18 months running AI visibility campaigns for HNK Solicitors and Clatterbridge Private Clinic. In 2023, HNK Solicitors was spending more than £150,000 a year on paid advertising.

Castle says that spend has now been completely replaced by enquiries coming through AI platforms. Clatterbridge Private Clinic has seen a 15% year-on-year increase in patients, which Castle attributes directly to its AI search work.

Both businesses now win customers through Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and ChatGPT. Ofcom’s Online Nation report, published in December 2025, found that around 30% of UK Google searches now show an AI-generated overview and Castle is looking to capitalise on this shift.

Chief operating officer Jennifer Hodson said: “More and more people now ask ChatGPT or Gemini who they should buy from. They get one answer with a handful of businesses in it.

“If you’re not one of those names, you’ve lost that customer before they ever see your website. We’ve built a whole department around getting our clients into that answer.”

Castle’s AI search work, often called generative engine optimisation or GEO, covers structured data and technical changes.

This helps AI systems understand a website, content written to answer the questions customers put to chatbots, and building mentions on the third-party sites those tools draw on. The agency then tracks how often each client is named in AI answers.

On the automation side, Castle started with its own business, automating parts of its web projects and building a new internal CRM with AI. It now offers the same approach to clients.

READ MORE: New Liverpool restaurant secures cash injection

READ MORE: Liverpool city region ‘tourist tax’ moves a step closer

Jennifer added: “Large companies have whole teams working out how to use AI. Most owner-run businesses in the city region don’t have that luxury.

“We can automate the jobs that eat up their week for a fraction of what it would cost to hire someone to do them, and that money goes straight back into growth.”