Guides
Get found by AI, step by step
Practical guides to GEO and AI-traffic measurement — written the way we build: direct answers, named sources, no guaranteed-placement nonsense.
Latest · 11 Sept 2026
We asked six AI engines, plus a since-retired Bing proxy, the same 40 buyer questions for two weeks. Here is every source they cited.
Our own measurement, not a summary of someone else's: 40 frozen buyer questions, two weeks, ~855 distinct cited domains a week across six answer engines — and each engine eats a different diet.
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Otterly.ai vs Peec AI (2026): an honest comparison — by a competitor
Otterly.ai and Peec AI compared by what they're each best at — entry price vs analytics depth — with sourced numbers, written by a competitor with the bias disclosed up front.
Peec AI alternatives in 2026: an honest comparison
Peec AI is the fastest-growing AI visibility tool — and not the right fit for every team. The real alternatives compared by need, with sourced numbers and our own measured scores.
Reddit vanished from ChatGPT's citations. Our per-engine data shows a messier picture.
In August 2026 Reddit citations collapsed in ChatGPT Search, per multiple trackers. We checked our own per-engine measurements: the drop is real but uneven — and that unevenness is the lesson.
We scored every AI visibility tool with our own checker — including ourselves
Six AI visibility tools, scored on citation-readiness with our own free checker. We came third, at 82 before we fixed our own homepage. The full table, the method, and what it revealed.
Otterly.ai alternatives in 2026: an honest comparison
Looking beyond Otterly.ai for AI search monitoring? The real alternatives compared by need — analytics depth, enterprise scale, or revenue attribution — with sourced pricing.
Best AI visibility tools in 2026, compared by what you actually need
There is no single best AI visibility tool — there is a best one per need. Enterprise, mid-market, entry-level and revenue-focused options compared with sourced pricing.
Off-site authority: the GEO lever most guides skip
On-site fixes make you eligible to be quoted. For competitive questions, what decides who gets named is off-site: who else already vouches for you. An honest guide.
How to write a page an AI assistant will quote
Being readable is not the same as being quotable. The shape that gets lifted into an AI answer — direct answer first, specifics, structure — and how to check a draft before you publish.
How to benchmark yourself against competitors in AI answers
A visibility score on its own cannot tell you whether you are behind. Here is how to run an honest competitive benchmark in AI answers — and which comparisons are actually worth making.
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?
GEO is the practice of making your brand the answer AI assistants give. What it is, how it differs from SEO, and what actually moves the needle — honestly.
How to get your brand cited by ChatGPT (and the other AI assistants)
A practical, no-guarantees playbook: the on-site readiness gaps and off-site evidence worth working on, and how to measure what AI does next.
GEO vs SEO: what changes, what doesn't
SEO gets you ranked; GEO gets you quoted. Where the two overlap, where they genuinely differ, and how to budget effort between them.
Why AI traffic shows up as "Direct" in Google Analytics
Much of the traffic ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini send you is invisible in your analytics — filed under Direct. Here's why it happens and how to see the real number.
How AI assistants choose which sources to cite
What research and observation actually tell us about why ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini cite some pages and ignore others — and what that means for your content.
llms.txt: what it is, and what it actually does (an honest guide)
llms.txt is cheap to add and widely recommended — but is anyone reading it? What the file is, what evidence exists, and whether you should bother.
How to track your brand's mentions across AI assistants
A concrete method for monitoring whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and friends mention your brand — manually or automated — without fooling yourself.
The GEO checklist: 20 checks before you chase AI citations
A printable, ordered checklist for AI visibility: crawler access, quotable content, structured data, off-site presence, and measurement — with the why for each.
How to audit your robots.txt (and CDN) for AI crawlers
A 15-minute audit that catches the most common GEO failure: blocking a search crawler (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Googlebot) by accident — often at the CDN, not in robots.txt.
AI visibility for Shopify stores: get recommended, then prove the revenue
How e-commerce stores show up in AI shopping answers — product-page fixes, the review ecosystem, and connecting AI mentions to actual Shopify orders.
Structured data for GEO: what JSON-LD actually does for AI visibility
Which schema.org types help AI assistants understand your brand, what structured data can't do, and a copy-ready priority order for adding it.
AI share of voice: the metric that shows who owns your category's answers
How to measure what percentage of AI-assistant answers name you versus competitors, why position inside the answer matters, and the honesty rules that keep the metric real.