Be the answer. Not the 10th result.
We structure your brand so ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude cite you when buyers ask questions in your space. AI-referred traffic converts at 14.2% — five times Google organic. The brands in those answers win the sale before the click.
WHAT IS AEO?Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring your brand's content so AI systems — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude — cite you when buyers ask questions in your space. Unlike SEO, which targets ranked links, AEO targets the spoken or typed answers AI gives before any link is clicked. Brands cited in those answers convert at 14.2% — five times Google organic — because the AI has already done the trust work.
Why AEO can't wait.
The shift from ranked-link search to AI-generated answers has already happened. These numbers are live, not projected.
How we do it.
A repeatable three-stage system developed from 90+ days of live AEO experiments in our own lab.
Citation Baseline
We sweep 200+ prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude to map exactly where your brand appears — and where your competitors own the conversation.
Entity + Content Rebuild
Rewrite key pages in AEO-first format — structured answers, entity graphs, schema markup, and llms.txt — so AI engines can confidently cite you.
Monitor, Iterate, Report
Weekly citation reports show you exactly which engines are citing you, for which queries, and how you stack up against competitors over time.
What's included — and who it's for.
Every month includes:
- Citation baseline report (200+ prompts, 4 engines)
- Entity architecture map and knowledge graph audit
- AEO content rewrites (up to 10 pages/month)
- Schema markup implementation (FAQ, HowTo, Organization)
- llms.txt and AI.txt setup and maintenance
- Weekly citation tracking across 4 AI engines
- Monthly written Signal report with recommendations
This is right for you if:
- You're entering a new market and need AI engines to know who you are
- Your competitors are getting cited in AI answers — you are not
- You've tried traditional SEO but zero-click search is killing your traffic
- You sell a considered purchase where trust at point-of-query matters
- You want the kind of compounding visibility that turns into inbound revenue
What 90 days looks like.
Real citation lift from our own lab. Same system we run for clients.
// AEO Citation Log — Metautomatic Lab · EXP_01 aeo.benchmark citations: 0 / 200 promptsentity.seeding schema deployed · llms.txt live · knowledge graph seededfirst.citation Perplexity · query: "AEO agency 2026" · position: 2aeo.sweep citations: 11 / 200 prompts · ChatGPT 4 · Perplexity 5 · Gemini 2content.rebuild 8 pages rewritten in AEO format · FAQ schema deployedaeo.sweep citations: 34 / 200 prompts · Claude 7 added · strong entity signalsignal.report inbound leads up 23% · 2 closed from AI-cited queriesaeo.sweep citations: 67 / 200 prompts · all 4 engines · compounding
Every methodology we use for clients was first stress-tested on our own brand. The citation tracker is live and open for early access.
Transparent pricing.
Scope depends on content volume and competitive density. The audit tells us which tier is right for you.
Monthly retainer. No contracts beyond 3 months. Cancel with 30-day notice. Scope is set after the free Signal Audit.
Start with a free audit →Included in every tier:
- 200-prompt citation sweep (4 engines)
- AEO content rewrites
- Schema + llms.txt implementation
- Weekly citation reports
- Monthly Signal report
- Dedicated Slack channel
Questions we hear every time.
Early citation lift typically appears within 6–10 weeks for new entities. For established brands with existing content, we often see measurable citation increases in 4–6 weeks. Full compounding effects — where citations beget links which beget more citations — take 3–6 months.
SEO optimises for ranked links in search result pages. AEO optimises to be the cited source in AI-generated answers — where no link is clicked at all, but your brand is the one named. The mechanics overlap (structured content, authority signals) but the targets are completely different. You need both.
No agency can guarantee a specific AI engine will cite you — the models are probabilistic and update frequently. What we guarantee is that we'll implement every known technical and content lever, track citations rigorously, and iterate until the numbers move. Our lab has run this exact system on our own brand since Q1 2026.
Both. Established brands often see faster early lift because AI engines already have some entity signal to anchor. New brands need more foundational work — entity seeding, schema, content architecture — but the compounding effect once citations start is the same.
Our citation sweep stack includes Profound and AthenaHQ for structured monitoring, plus our own custom prompt library built from the lab. For content and schema we use our in-house AEO content framework, Schema.org validator, and a custom llms.txt generator. Everything is reported weekly in plain English.