AEO & GEO, explained

The Redesign Mistake That Erases AI Citation

A website redesign can quietly break the redirects, schema, and entity signals AI models use to cite you. Here's what to protect before you rebuild.

The Technical SEO Foundation AI Sites Miss

Most AI crawlers can't render JavaScript. Real data on GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot shows why the build has to come before the content strategy.

Why a Local News Mention Beats a Backlink Now

Ahrefs found brand mentions correlate with AI visibility 3x more than backlinks. Here's why a real press mention now outweighs a purchased link.

One Agency or Two? The Real SEO-vs-AEO Tradeoff

Combined AI SEO agency, split specialists, or in-house? Real 2026 data, red flags, and the questions to ask before you sign a retainer.

You Used to Show Up in ChatGPT. Now You Don't.

AI citations don't fade for no reason. Learn to diagnose whether a broken migration, a fresher competitor, or a platform change killed your AI visibility.

Does "Near Me" Work the Same on ChatGPT as on Google Maps?

ChatGPT sent one tester's steakhouse search 45 minutes away. Real research on how AI assistants handle "near me" queries versus Google's Local Pack.

When AI Agents Start Booking Things Without You

OpenAI's Instant Checkout stumbled, but agentic browsing is real. What autonomous AI agents need from your site to compare, book, and buy correctly.

Why Your Google Analytics Dashboard Can't See ChatGPT Traffic

Stripped referrer headers, platform-specific UTM rules, and crawler traffic GA4 never sees: why AI-driven visits go missing, and how to actually track them.

Retrieved but Not Cited: The Real AI Citation Gap

Being crawled by AI bots and being cited in an AI answer are different outcomes. Real research on the retrieval-to-citation gap, and how to close it.

Does Schema Markup Actually Get You Cited by AI? Here's What the Evidence Shows

Google says schema isn't a ranking factor. We checked real studies on whether it helps AI citation - the honest answer is more nuanced than either camp claims.

Entity Consistency: How AI Systems Tell One Business From Another

A real Google listing merge, official Google guidelines, and 2026 ranking data on why entity consistency decides whether AI systems get your business right.

Does ChatGPT Know Your Business Exists?

Training cutoff vs live web search: why ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini might give an outdated or blank answer about a business that launched or rebranded recently.

What the GEO Research Actually Tested

Inside the Princeton/Georgia Tech GEO paper: the 9 techniques tested, which ones backfired, and what 2025-2026 follow-up research found.

What Is Answer Engine Optimization? A Working Definition for 2026

A grounded definition of AEO built from the original Princeton research, real citation data, and a live debate about what actually earns AI citation.

How AEO Services Actually Work (And How to Tell a Real One From a Rebrand)

What a fake company taught us about AI citation, real 2026 data on AEO, and how to tell a genuine AEO engagement from a relabeled SEO retainer.