AEO Methodology
What is AEO?
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) measures how well a company is represented in AI-powered answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Mistral. Unlike traditional SEO which focuses on search engine rankings, AEO focuses on how AI systems understand and recommend your brand.
AEO Score Calculation
The AEO Score (0-100) is calculated from two main components:
AI Health Score (40%)
Measures technical readiness for AI crawlers. We analyze your website for structured data (Schema.org), meta descriptions, content clarity, robots.txt configuration, and other factors that help AI systems understand your business.
AI Visibility Score (60%)
Measures actual presence in AI responses. We query multiple AI platforms with industry-relevant questions and analyze how often and how accurately your company is mentioned.
AI Platforms Tracked
- ChatGPT (OpenAI) — The most widely used AI assistant
- Gemini (Google) — Integrated with Google ecosystem
Additional platforms (Perplexity, Claude, Mistral) may be added in future updates.
Key Metrics
- Mentions: How often your company appears in AI responses
- Quality Score: Accuracy and completeness of mentions
- Category Clarity: How well AI understands your industry
- Entity Strength: Recognition of your brand as a distinct entity
- Visibility Band: Overall presence level (Dominant, Strong, Moderate, Weak)
Grade Scale
Data Freshness
We continuously monitor AI platforms and update scores regularly. Each startup page shows the last health check and mentions check timestamps. Scores may fluctuate as AI models are updated and retrained.