Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about GEO, AEO, AI brand visibility, and how YouGotRanked differs from traditional SEO tools.
What is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?
GEO is the practice of improving how your brand appears in responses from AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overview. Unlike traditional SEO which optimises for search engine rankings, GEO focuses on ensuring AI models mention, recommend, and rank your brand favourably when users ask questions related to your industry.
Read the full GEO guide →What's the difference between GEO and SEO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) improves your ranking in traditional search engines like Google Search, the blue links. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) improves how AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini respond when asked about your category. The two are related but distinct: SEO success doesn't guarantee GEO visibility, and many brands that rank well on Google are completely invisible in AI responses.
GEO vs SEO, explained in full →Can SEMrush or Ahrefs track AI visibility?
No. SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and similar tools are built for traditional search engine optimisation; they track keyword rankings, backlinks, and website traffic from Google and Bing. They do not query AI models like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and cannot tell you whether your brand is being recommended in AI-generated responses. You need a dedicated GEO tool like YouGotRanked to track AI visibility.
Do I need a separate tool for GEO tracking?
Yes. Traditional SEO platforms don't have access to the generative AI models that are increasingly used for product and service discovery. YouGotRanked specifically queries ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overview using real purchase-intent prompts to measure your brand's AI visibility, something no traditional SEO tool does.
What is AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)?
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) specifically targets Google AI Overview, the AI-generated answer box that appears at the top of a large and growing share of Google searches, including most question-type queries in many categories. While GEO broadly covers AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude, AEO is focused on Google's AI layer. YouGotRanked tracks both GEO and AEO, giving you a complete picture of your AI visibility.
Read the full AEO guide →Which AI models does YouGotRanked track?
YouGotRanked tracks four major AI channels: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), and Google AI Overview (AEO). Each analysis stress-tests organic, brand-anchored, and competitive query clusters across all four (200+ signals scored and returns a full competitor comparison in under five minutes.
What is an AI visibility score?
Your AI visibility score (0–100) measures how frequently and favourably your brand appears across all monitored AI channels when real purchase-intent questions are asked. It factors in mention rate, ranking position, sentiment, and share of voice compared to competitors. A score above 70 is strong; below 40 typically means you are largely invisible to AI-driven discovery.
Why doesn't my brand appear when I ask ChatGPT for recommendations?
AI models recommend brands they have been trained on through web crawls, published content, press mentions, and third-party citations. If your brand has limited online presence, few external references, or lacks structured data on your website, AI models may not have enough information to include you. YouGotRanked's action plan identifies exactly which gaps are holding you back and what to fix first.
How is YouGotRanked different from traditional SEO tools?
Traditional SEO tools measure rankings in Google Search. YouGotRanked measures how AI models respond to real queries: a fundamentally different data source and metric. We query live AI models, extract brand mentions and positions from their responses, score your visibility, and generate a prioritised fix list specific to improving AI citations. No traditional SEO platform does this.
What metrics matter for GEO?
The four key GEO metrics are: (1) Mention rate: how often your brand appears in AI responses; (2) Ranking position: where you appear in AI-recommended lists; (3) Sentiment: whether AI models describe you positively or neutrally; (4) Share of voice: your visibility relative to competitors. YouGotRanked tracks all four across every AI provider and shows you how you stack up.
Does traditional SEO help with AI visibility?
Partially. A well-optimised website, strong backlink profile, and structured data markup all contribute to AI visibility because AI models are trained on web content. However, the correlation is imperfect: brands with strong Google rankings are often invisible in AI responses, and vice versa. GEO requires its own dedicated strategy alongside traditional SEO.
How often should I check my AI visibility?
We recommend running a fresh analysis every 2–4 weeks. AI model training data updates periodically, and your competitive landscape shifts as rivals publish new content and earn new citations. Monthly tracking gives you enough signal to see whether your fixes are working without over-indexing on short-term noise.
How long does it take to improve AI rankings?
Quick wins like adding FAQ schema markup, publishing comparison content, and improving your structured data can show measurable impact in as little as 5–14 days. Longer-term strategies like building third-party citations, press coverage, and content hubs typically take 4–12 weeks to move the needle. Our action plan prioritises quick wins first.
What's included in a YouGotRanked analysis?
Each analysis includes: an AI visibility score (0–100), per-provider breakdown across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overview, competitor comparison matrix, sentiment analysis, GEO scorecard by query type, shareable link, and PDF export. Paid Snapshot reports also include an AI-generated action plan with prioritised fixes and content recommendations.
How do you put a dollar value on AI visibility?
We apply the industry-standard Earned Media Value method to AI answers: real monthly search demand for your category × real Google Ads cost-per-click for your market × your measured AI capture rate, with a conservative discount factor. The report shows two numbers every marketing stakeholder understands: Paid Media Saved (the ad spend your current AI visibility already replaces) and Media Value at Risk (the value of queries where AI recommends competitors instead of you). It is a directional benchmark built entirely on Google Ads data and your measured visibility, not our estimates.
How do I know the fixes are working?
Re-run your analysis every few weeks and compare: capture rate per query type, per-provider visibility, and the Paid Media Saved number all move as fixes land. You can also connect Google Search Console to correlate rising impressions on the exact queries we track. We track progress openly rather than promising a fixed outcome; you see the same numbers we do.
What is the best AI visibility tool for marketing teams?
The best tool is the one purpose-built to measure AI answers rather than an SEO platform with an AI feature bolted on. YouGotRanked was built specifically for AI visibility: it queries ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overview with real purchase-intent prompts, scores your brand against competitors, and returns a prioritised action plan. Among AI-native tools like Profound and AthenaHQ, it adds a free self-serve analysis and consultancy support; traditional platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Conductor, and BrightEdge are strong for keyword and backlink work but were not designed to measure whether AI models recommend you.
Compare YouGotRanked vs Profound, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and more →Is YouGotRanked an alternative to SEMrush or Ahrefs?
It is a complement more than a replacement. SEMrush and Ahrefs measure traditional search: keyword rankings, backlinks, and site audits. YouGotRanked measures the layer they do not, whether AI assistants and Google AI Overview name and recommend your brand. Most teams keep their SEO platform for classic search and add YouGotRanked for AI visibility, because the two report on different surfaces.
See the full comparison →Is YouGotRanked legitimate, and what results can I expect?
YouGotRanked is a working analysis platform: paste a URL and you get a real, scored report across four AI channels in minutes, with a shareable link and PDF export. We measure and report transparently rather than guaranteeing rankings, because AI visibility depends on factors like third-party citations and model training cycles that no tool controls. Structural fixes such as schema and answer-first content can show movement on Google AI Overview within days to weeks; gains on the chat models compound over months.
How much does YouGotRanked cost?
The first analysis is free with no credit card. A one-time Snapshot report, which unlocks the full AI-generated action plan for a single brand, is $99. Ongoing monitoring and consultancy engagements are quoted per scope. Because the report values your AI visibility in paid-media-equivalent dollars, most teams can weigh the cost against the ad spend their current visibility already replaces.
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