Search visibility · Portugal · 2026
42 Portugal Search Visibility
I assessed how 42 Portugal appears in Portuguese search and AI answers: which candidate questions surface it, which sources models rely on, and where visibility drops.
- Assessment
- An independent assessment of how 42 Portugal appears across Portuguese search demand and AI-generated answers.
- Delivery scope
- Portuguese search demand, the 42 brand and campuses, 25 AI questions, the sources used in answers, low-visibility topics, and the limits of the data.
- Public evidence
- 7public sources
Project constraints
- 01Branded demand is concentrated around official campus entities
- 02Many 42 and Piscine query variants are ambiguous or unmeasured
- 03AI visibility is a dated, platform-specific observation—not a traffic claim
Portfolio context
The technology and delivery problem behind this work.
Use these signals to compare this case study with the closest relevant work.
The challenge
Measure how often 42 appears in real candidate questions without treating an AI mention as a search ranking or a website visit.
Most Portuguese searches about 42 use the school or campus name directly. That confirms awareness, but it does not show whether 42 appears when somebody asks a broader question. To test that, I asked 25 questions in Portuguese without naming 42. They covered free programming education, applications, peer learning, career change, preparation, and employer recognition. I then recorded how often 42 appeared, where it appeared in the answer, and which sources were used.
Method and evidence
Decide what counts as 42
42 Lisboa, 42 Porto, 42 Portugal, and 42 Network are connected, but they are not the same website or campus. I tracked them together while keeping their names and sources separate.
Remove misleading searches
Searches for 42 can mean a number, and Piscine can return swimming pools. I excluded those results and kept only searches clearly related to the programming school.
Ask what candidates actually ask
The 25 questions covered discovery, applications, preparation, tuition, peer learning, career change, the teaching method, and employer recognition. None of them named 42.
Count appearances and sources
I reviewed 956 AI answers and 6.6k recorded uses of sources from 602 websites. Institutional websites supplied 51% of the sources used in the sample.
Keep the numbers in context
The completed Peec AI sample recorded 60% visibility and an average position of #1.7 across 25 Portuguese questions. These numbers describe AI answers collected on that date. They do not measure Google rankings or website visits.
AI evidence
AI answer sample · 31 July 2026
Where 42 appears in AI answers—and where it does not.
I asked AI assistants 25 questions in Portuguese without naming 42 and collected 956 responses. The results show how often 42 appeared, how prominently it was recommended, and which sources supported the answers. This public view shares the totals and patterns, not the raw response archive. The citable report and aggregate tables are preserved at Zenodo (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21864826).
- Portuguese questions
- 25
- AI answers
- 956
- recorded source uses
- 6.6k
- different source websites
- 602
How to read the AI metrics
Three numbers that need context before comparison.
Visibility
The share of monitored answers in which 42 appeared for a question. It is an AI-answer observation, not a Google ranking or share of search traffic.
Average position
The recorded prominence of 42 inside the completed Peec sample. The #1.7 figure does not mean position 1.7 in organic search results.
Source use
One recorded use means an answer relied on or cited that source. The 6.6k total counts uses; 602 counts different source websites.
Evidence atlas
Explore 42’s local visibility in Portugal.
Compare the measured campuses, filter by topic, or search for a specific question. Every row keeps the campus, first-party citations, and all citations in view.
Loading questions and sources…
Question explorer
Find the question behind the evidence.
Loading questions and sources…
Local follow-up observed on 10 August 2026. The historical 25-question sample reported in this case study was observed on 31 July 2026; this evidence does not change that result.
Browse measured campuses
- 01
Free coding schools in Lisbon and Porto
100% - 02
Tuition-free programming in Lisbon
100% - 03
Peer learning in Portugal
100% - 04
Selective free programming programmes
100%
- 01
42 Lisboa
212 uses - 02
YouTube
195 uses - 03
Reddit
189 uses - 04
42 Porto
146 uses - 05
42 Portugal
100 uses
Low-visibility questions
Where 42 appeared less often.
Preparation questions
Visibility fell sharply for what candidates should practise and how they should prepare for an intensive selection process.
Learning without teachers
42 did not appear in the question about the advantages and disadvantages of learning programming without teachers.
Employer recognition
Recognition by Portuguese employers was materially weaker than discovery questions about free schools and campuses.
What the source pattern means
Official facts and lived experience are retrieved together.
Institutional sources carried the evidence layer
Just over half of recorded source use came from institutional websites. For operational claims such as admissions or campus rules, current official pages remain the necessary source of truth.
Community sources shaped the explanation layer
YouTube and Reddit recorded 384 uses together, compared with 458 across 42 Lisboa, 42 Porto, and 42 Portugal. Candidates are seeing official facts alongside experience-led explanations.
Most source use sat outside the five leading sources
The five most-used sources accounted for 842 uses—about 13% of the rounded 6.6k total. The remaining source activity was spread across a long tail, so visibility is not controlled by one domain.
Portuguese search snapshot · 27 July 2026
Search demand is concentrated—but the useful questions are not.
The Semrush Portugal desktop snapshot showed a compact market led by branded school and campus searches. The opportunity was not to imitate the official homepages. It was to answer the comparison, preparation, cost, and fit questions around them.
Priority and rejected queries
| Query | Monthly searches | Difficulty | Research decision | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| escola 42 | 1,600 | 29–30 | Primary entity hub | The clearest measurable demand. Official Lisboa, Porto, and Portugal pages already occupy the strongest positions, so an independent page needs deeper decision support. |
curso programação |
590 | 18–20 | Broad discovery guide | A larger non-branded route into the topic with lower measured difficulty than the main 42 entity term. |
aprender a programar |
110 | 24 | Learning-method support | Useful for explaining peer learning and learning to learn without forcing a campus comparison into an informational question. |
cursos de informática em lisboa |
70 | 18 | Lisboa comparison support | A smaller local term that supports a genuine choice page rather than another generic campus landing page. |
curso programação porto |
50 | 9 | Porto preparation page | The lowest-difficulty high-fit term in the captured set. Its value is local relevance, not large search volume. |
piscine portugal |
390 | 25 | Rejected as a primary term | The number looks attractive, but the results mix programming with swimming pools and hotels. Using it as the main target would overstate relevant demand. |
Where measured Portugal visibility was concentrated.
The same dated snapshot showed the official properties owning a small number of highly concentrated rankings. Estimated traffic is a Semrush model, not analytics from those sites.
| Domain | Organic keywords | Estimated traffic | Concentration | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
daviddacruz.dev |
0 | 0 | No measured baseline | No measurable Portugal footprint in this snapshot, so the content plan starts with indexing and query discovery rather than a traffic promise. |
42lisboa.com |
47 | 1,800 | 88.9% on homepage | The homepage dominated, leaving room for independent application, preparation, cost, and fit guidance. |
42porto.com |
33 | 1,400 | 91.95% on homepage | Strong local visibility, including the low-difficulty Porto programming term, was concentrated on one page. |
42portugal.org |
23 | 378 | 100% on homepage | National entity visibility was entirely homepage-led in the captured model. |
42network.org |
9 | 53 | Limited Portugal footprint | The global network supplied authority and methodology context, but little Portugal-specific search coverage. |
Research conclusions
Search demand is concentrated—but the useful questions are not.
The head term proves awareness, not complete answers
People already search for Escola 42. The content gap begins after discovery: which campus, how to apply, what the method demands, and whether the model fits a person’s life.
Low-volume questions can still be high-intent
Application and Lisboa-versus-Porto queries often showed no stable exact-match volume, but they sit closer to an actual candidate decision than a broad informational keyword.
A content cluster is more defensible than one target keyword
The evidence supports an entity hub connected to campus choice, application, preparation, curriculum, cost, and fit pages—each answering a distinct question without copying the official sites.
Research work
-
01
Mapped Portuguese searches that did and did not include the 42 name, its campuses, free programming education, and the Piscine.
-
02
Wrote 25 questions based on what candidates ask before choosing or applying to a programming school.
-
03
Compared how often 42 appeared and its average position across 956 AI answers.
-
04
Reviewed 6.6k recorded source uses from 602 websites to find which sources appeared most often.
-
05
Kept official campus facts, first-hand context, search observations, and AI measurements clearly separated.
What the assessment showed
42 is easy to find when people ask about free coding schools or campuses. It appears less often in questions about preparation, learning without teachers, and employer recognition.
Out of 25 questions, 11 had 80–100% visibility and five had 0–19%. 42 appeared most often when people asked where to learn programming for free or how its campuses work. It appeared less often in questions about practical preparation, learning without teachers, and whether employers value the training.
- Overall: 60% visibility and an average position of #1.7.
- Strongest: four discovery questions reached 100% visibility.
- Weakest: learning without teachers 0%, preparation 3–13%, and employer recognition 13%.
Tools and technologies
Sources
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