Boutique AEO Agency. Design-Led. AI-Native
Underscore is a boutique, AI-native AEO agency based in Singapore. We help SMEs become the brand AI search engines recommend, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
We come from a different background than most SEO agencies. Our roots are in design and web development: Webflow, brand systems, user experience. That perspective shapes everything we do. We don't just optimise for algorithms. We design visibility systems that look right, feel right, and perform.
We built the practice around AI from the start. Our research, monitoring, and analysis run on AI systems continuously, not as quarterly projects. That's how a boutique practice delivers what larger agencies can't: senior strategy, direct access to the founder, and fast execution without the overhead.
Zhiliang Chen
Founder & Lead Strategist
Founder Story
Underscore was founded by Zhiliang, a strategist and designer with a dual background in web development and search marketing. That combination is the reason the practice exists.
"Most SEO agencies come from a pure marketing background. I came from design and development. I saw how the best brands don't just rank. They're built differently. The typography, the layout, the way content breathes on a page. That's not separate from visibility. It IS visibility. AI engines don't just read your content. They evaluate your entire brand experience.
I also saw too many SEO recommendations die in implementation backlogs. Strategy decks gathering dust because the dev team had other priorities. So I built a practice where strategy, design, and execution live in the same hands."
Zhiliang leads every engagement directly, from initial audit to ongoing optimisation. With a background spanning Webflow development, brand design, content strategy, and AI search behaviour, he brings a full-stack, design-led perspective that most consultants can't.
How We Operate
We don't scale with headcount. We scale with systems and taste.
AI handles the volume work: research, monitoring, competitor tracking, citation analysis. That frees us to spend every client hour on strategy, design thinking, and implementation.
The result: a boutique practice that combines the strategic depth of a consultancy, the design sensibility of a studio, and the technical capability of a Webflow agency. Powered by AI systems that let us move at a pace larger teams can't match.