# RankTalos (DataDriveTech LLC d/b/a RankTalos)

> RankTalos is a hands-on applied AI and machine learning engineering consultancy that designs, evaluates, and builds search, discovery, and recommendation systems for online stores and catalog businesses. Visitors can test their live store in 60 seconds with the free RankTalos Findability Score, commission a human-verified Search, AI Findability, or Recommendations Audit (100% credited toward a build), hire us for fixed-scope Semantic Search and Recommendation System Builds, or embed Principal-supervised Resident AI/ML Engineers.

Tagline: Applied AI & ML Engineering for Search, Discovery & Recommendations
Reference Semantic Engine: Talos Semantic Engine (live at https://usafurnish.com across 10,000+ multi-store furniture SKUs)
Buyers:
- Persona A: E-commerce Directors & Founders ($5M–$50M stores, Shopify/BigCommerce/headless) for Tier 0 Score Tool, Tier 1 Audits, and Tier 2 Builds.
- Persona B: CTOs, VPs of Engineering & Heads of ML ($20M–$250M retail, marketplaces & B2B catalogs) for Tier 2 Builds, Evaluation Harnesses, and Tier 3 Resident AI/ML Engineers.

## 4-Tier Service & Pricing Architecture (USD)

### Tier 0 — Self-Serve Diagnostic Tool
- Findability Score & Gap Snapshot: Free (60s live check across 4 engineering sub-scores + 24h Principal-verified email snapshot + Talos Semantic Search preview.). 8 catalog-grounded requests, 4 engineering sub-scores (0–100), AI crawler & JSON-LD check, and side-by-side Talos Semantic Search preview. https://ranktalos.com/check

### Tier 1 — Productized Diagnostics (100% credited to a Tier 2 build within 60 days in Advisory Mode)
- Search Findability & Gap Coverage Audit: $3,500 / $7,500 (Standard / Extended). $2,500 design-partner rate available for the first 3 Tier 1 Search Audits in exchange for named before/after case study rights. https://ranktalos.com/search
- Combined Search & AI Findability Audit: $5,000 / $10,000 (Standard / Extended). https://ranktalos.com/how-it-works
- Recommendations & Merchandising Audit: $4,000 / $7,500 (Standard / Extended). https://ranktalos.com/recommendations
- AI Findability Audit: $2,500 / $5,000 (Standard / Extended). https://ranktalos.com/ai-findability
- M&A Technical & Findability Due Diligence: $7,500 fixed (5 business days, Independent Mode — 12-month no-fix rule). https://ranktalos.com/due-diligence

### Tier 2 — Fixed-Scope AI & ML Engineering Builds
- Semantic & Hybrid Search Build (In-Stack Advisory): $6,000–$12,000 (3–4 weeks).
- Semantic & Hybrid Search Build (Turnkey / Talos Layer): $12,000–$35,000 build (+ $1,500–$3,500/mo hosted) (4–8 weeks, 12-month min on hosted layer).
- Recommendation System Build / Upgrade: $15,000–$40,000 (4–8 weeks). https://ranktalos.com/recommendations
- Catalog Enrichment & AI Feed Fix: $6,000–$18,000 (3–6 weeks).
- Evaluation Harness & Experimentation Setup: $8,000–$18,000 (2–4 weeks). https://ranktalos.com/ml-engineering

### Tier 3 — Contract ML Engineering & Resident Teams
- Fractional Principal ML / Search Architect: $4,000–$8,000/mo (3-month minimum (15–30 hrs/mo)). https://ranktalos.com/ml-engineering
- Resident AI / ML Engineer: $16,000–$26,000/mo FT ($100–$165/hr) or $9,000–$14,000/mo HT (3-month min, billed monthly upfront Net-7, 20% conversion buyout option after 6 months). https://ranktalos.com/ml-engineering
- Embedded Delivery Pod: $35,000–$55,000/mo (8–12 week delivery sprints).

### Event-Triggered Re-Tests & Secondary Add-On
- Re-tests: $1,500 search · $1,250 AI · $2,250 both.
- Privacy & Tracking Check: $750 with an Audit, $950 standalone. https://ranktalos.com/privacy-tracking

## Field Evidence & Live Reference Implementation

- Furniture retailer A (Fast Simon), October 31, 2026: 10 of 22 real shopper requests failed (9 with zero results).
- Furniture retailer B (Algolia), October 31, 2026: 7 of 24 failed, 9 partly right.
- Live Reference Engine: Talos Semantic Engine (Reference Store: usafurnish.com) at https://usafurnish.com (BM25 lexical + dense vector embeddings + numeric/unit constraint filter parser + cross-encoder reranker).

## Pages

- [Search & Semantic Retrieval](https://ranktalos.com/search)
- [Recommendation Systems](https://ranktalos.com/recommendations)
- [AI Assistant Findability](https://ranktalos.com/ai-findability)
- [ML Engineering & Resident Teams](https://ranktalos.com/ml-engineering)
- [Free Findability Score](https://ranktalos.com/check)
- [Pricing](https://ranktalos.com/pricing)
- [Case Studies & Live Reference](https://ranktalos.com/case-studies)
- [How It Works](https://ranktalos.com/how-it-works)
- [Test Standard v1.0](https://ranktalos.com/standard)
- [Sample Audit Report](https://ranktalos.com/sample-report)
- [Furniture & Home Findability Benchmark](https://ranktalos.com/benchmark)
- [Advisory vs. Independent Policy](https://ranktalos.com/independence)
- [Findings & Disclosure Policy](https://ranktalos.com/findings-policy)
- [Agency & M&A Partners](https://ranktalos.com/partners)
- [About](https://ranktalos.com/about)
- [Book a Call](https://ranktalos.com/contact)
- [Full Text](https://ranktalos.com/llms-full.txt)

Contact: hello@ranktalos.com