The problem
An AI visibility score does not tell you what to do.
Most tools stop at a number. Cited traces the answer back to the pages that produced it, yours and everyone else's, so the next move is obvious rather than inferred.
Win the answers your buyers see.
When buyers ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google what to buy, Cited shows whether your brand appears, which competitors are winning, which sources shape the answer, and what your team should change next.
Track → Diagnose → Fix → Measure
What is AI search optimization for brands?
AI search optimization is the practice of improving how your brand appears, is described and is cited in AI-generated answers. Traditional SEO helps your pages appear in search results. This is about the answers themselves: whether your brand is mentioned, where it appears, which of your products are recommended, and which sources AI leans on.
The goal is not simply to be visible. It is to become one of the brands AI confidently recommends when a buyer asks a category question.
AI search is not just another Google ranking.
SEO asks which page ranks for the query. AI search asks which brands become part of the answer. You can rank well on Google and still be absent from what your buyer sees.
| Traditional SEO | AI search optimization |
|---|---|
| Rank in search results | Appear in generated answers |
| Keywords | Buyer questions and prompts |
| Clicks and traffic | Mentions, position and recommendation presence |
| Backlinks | Citation sources and the source ecosystem |
| Page ranking | Answer-level visibility |
| Optimise pages | Optimise the information ecosystem |
SEO stays foundational. AI search adds another place to win, not a replacement for the one you have.
The category
Score every subject your buyers ask about.
Prompts are grouped into the subjects behind them and each subject is scored on its own. Your rivals are scored on the same prompts inside every subject, so you can see which parts of the category you already hold and which one is worth this quarter.
One loop for improving AI visibility.
Measurement, diagnosis and execution in one system, so a finding does not have to survive an export, a spreadsheet and somebody's memory before it becomes work.
- 01See where AI recommends you.Mention rate, position, sentiment and share of voice across the platforms and prompts that matter to your category.
- 02Find the sources behind the answer.Which competitors win, which sources AI cites, and which topic or platform is creating the gap.
- 03Know what to fix first.Findings become ranked work, ordered by the size of the gap rather than the volume of the alert.
- 04Give the team a clear next step.Each task names the page, the reason and the change, with a brief your team can start from.
- 05Check what actually changed.The published page is compared against what the task asked for, with the finding still attached.
- 06See whether the signal moved.The tracking that found the gap is the tracking that measures it, against the same prompts.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI search optimization?
The practice of improving how a brand appears, is described and is cited in AI-generated answers. It extends search optimization into AI assistants and answer interfaces, where the output is a recommendation rather than a list of links.
Is AI search optimization the same as SEO?
No. SEO is about visibility in traditional search results. AI search optimization is about how brands appear inside AI-generated answers: mentions, position, product recommendations and the sources cited to support them. SEO stays an important foundation, because AI systems draw on search indexes and web pages, but a strong ranking does not carry into an answer on its own.
What is the difference between AEO, GEO and AI search optimization?
The terms overlap and are often used interchangeably. AEO usually means optimizing for answer engines. GEO is commonly used for generative engine optimization. AI search optimization is the broader term Cited uses for improving brand visibility across AI-generated search and recommendation experiences.
Can a brand rank number one on Google and still be invisible in AI search?
Yes, and it is common. Traditional rankings and AI answers are decided differently. An answer is built from a handful of sources the model chose, and those are frequently not the pages at the top of the results page. A brand can hold position one and never be named.
How do brands get recommended by ChatGPT?
There is no single ranking factor and no guaranteed optimization. An answer can draw on your own pages and on third-party sources, in proportions that vary by category. The practical job is to find the questions where competitors are recommended and you are not, identify the sources behind those answers, and improve the information ecosystem around your brand rather than only your own site.
How do I improve my brand's visibility in Gemini or Perplexity?
Start by measuring which prompts mention you, which sources each platform cites, and where a competitor is stronger. The fix depends on the gap, and it differs by platform: the same brand can lead on one and be absent on another, usually because their source mixes differ. That is why Cited reports each platform on its own rather than averaging them.
What sources does AI use to recommend brands?
It depends on the platform, the category and the question. The Cited Index found the source mix varies materially across both, which is why any general rule of the form “AI reads X” is unreliable. Source Intelligence shows the mix for your own category instead of a market average.
Does AI search optimization replace SEO?
No. SEO stays foundational. AI search optimization adds a layer of measurement and work around the answers themselves, and it is a separate channel with separate diagnostics.
How long does it take?
There is no universal timeline. Tracking starts the next day, and a site readiness score with the one stage holding the rest back lands in week one. Movement in the answers themselves usually shows over weeks rather than days, because it depends on publishing work on the pages the answers are built from.
How do I measure whether it is working?
Against the same questions over time: mention rate, recommendation position, share of voice, citation patterns and topic-level visibility. The tracking that found the gap is the tracking that measures it. We would rather show you a number that did not move than a report that says the work happened.
Does Cited tell me what to fix?
Yes. Cited connects a visibility gap to its source, topic, platform and site-level diagnostics, then turns the prioritised findings into tasks with a named page, a reason and a brief. Starter is the tracking picture: where you stand, who is ahead of you, and which sources are deciding it. The Task Operating System, which turns those gaps into ranked work, starts at Pro.
How many prompts do we need?
Enough to cover the questions your buyers actually ask, which for most brands is a category's worth rather than a long tail. The plans are sized around that: Starter tracks 100, Pro 250, Scale 500. You can retire and replace prompts as you learn which ones matter.
We already pay for SEO tools. Why this as well?
They measure different channels. SEO tools track where you rank on Google and who links to you. Cited tracks whether an AI answer names you at all, which is a separate question with a separate answer. Cited is not a replacement for that stack.
Can we see it on our own brand before committing?
Yes, two ways, and neither needs a card. The free AI visibility report runs twenty prompts across three AI platforms and comes back within a day. The paid plans that carry a trial say so on the pricing page.
Still stuck? Talk to us.
SolutionsFor agenciesYour prospect wants to know why AI keeps naming three competitors and not them. Run the audit before you sign them, on real answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI, and open the meeting with the answer instead of a deck. One plan covers the whole roster, and every report goes out under your brand.OpenPricingPriced per brandStarter, Pro and Scale, plus one-off reports if you are not ready for a subscription.See pricingProductEvery dashboard, one loopTrack where you stand, find the sources deciding it, and get the work that changes it.All features
Know what AI sees, and why. Know what to change.
Free report across three AI platforms. No credit card.