Subcategory · AI Citation Index

Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

Nine platforms now monitor brand citations across major LLMs (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini), signaling market recognition that AI answer engines represent a new discovery channel requiring dedicated optimization. Focused leads shortlist preference at 25% across four models, while Profound captures 31% despite narrower model coverage. However, zero prompt coverage and no evaluation data mean actual citation improvement capabilities remain completely unvalidated—buyers face a market of monitoring dashboards with unproven optimization impact.

81 discovery queries · refreshed May 11, 2026

Discovery stage

The shortlist

Across 81 buyer-style "Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)" queries

0%7%14%21%28%Coverage — share of discovery prompts where the brand surfaces15%33%52%71%89%Engine diversity

Hover or click a logo to see brand details

X = coverage across discovery prompts · Y = engine diversity · Bubble size = total mentions
Tracked acrossChatGPT,Gemini,Claude

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Score shifts, new entrants, citation gaps — every Monday.

Signal by intent

By topic

Top 5 most-cited brands per intent cluster. Brands with zero citations in a topic are not shown.

1Profound
5/5
2Focused
5/5
3Dashboard
4/5
4Topic
4/5
5Trend
3/5
1Profound
5/5
2Otterly.AI
4/5
3Focused
3/5
4Topic
3/5
5Recommend
3/5
1Profound
5/5
2Recommend
4/5
3AthenaHQ
4/5
4Otterly.AI
4/5
5Trend
4/5
1Profound
5/5
2Focused
5/5
3AthenaHQ
4/5
4Recommend
4/5
5Otterly.AI
3/5
1Profound
5/5
2Dashboard
4/5
3Otterly.AI
4/5
4Focused
4/5
5Topic
2/5
≥50% cited
25–49%
<25%
Topics are discovery-stage prompt clusters · answer-engine-optimization

Citation sources

Where AI pulls citations from

764 citations captured across Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) prompt runs.

Vendor pages

251

Product, help, and marketing pages from tracked vendors

Independent sources

230

Reviews, encyclopedias, forums, press — not vendor-owned

Buyer questions

What AI cites for top Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) questions

Most-cited prompts across the buyer journey. Click any prompt to see the actual URLs AI engines link to.

Discovery

Buyers exploring the category

Evaluation

Buyers comparing options

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