Audit

The Problem

ChatGPT Is Recommending Your Competitor. Not You.

800 million people ask AI for recommendations every week. When they ask about your category, someone else's name comes up.

Organic CTR drops 61% when AI Overviews appear — your rankings are worth less every month

Only 15% of Google's top 10 pages are cited by AI engines for the same queries

Brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% more clicks — and 91% more paid clicks

The Solution

AEO Audit — built to solve exactly this.

AEO Audit

The definitive 12-point audit that reveals exactly why AI engines cite your competitors instead of you

An AEO Audit measures how accurately AI answer engines cite and represent a business by running over 50 structured citation tests across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. The audit produces a scored report identifying where AI models misrepresent, omit, or fail to surface the brand in relevant queries.

A deep-dive audit of your Answer Engine Optimization posture across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Bing Copilot. We identify exactly why you're not being cited, map the content and schema ga...

Learn More

$5,000

Delivered in 5 business days

Speak With Our Team

No retainer lock-in

Deliverables are yours to keep

Adam personally reviews every engagement

69%

Searches Now Zero-Click

Similarweb, Jul 2025

More Citations w/ Schema

BrightEdge, Jan 2026

61%

CTR Drop in AI Overviews

Seer Interactive, Sep 2025

3.4x

More Traffic for AEO Adopters

Early AEO adopter benchmarks

Cost of Inaction

61% CTR Drop

Seer Interactive found organic click-through rates plummet from 1.76% to 0.61% on queries with AI Overviews. Your existing traffic is disappearing — and it's accelerating.

Source: Seer Interactive, September 2025

How It Works

See It in Action

adamsilvaconsulting.com/services/aeo-audit

Loading video...

“We went from zero AI citations to being the primary source cited by ChatGPT for 12 of our target queries. The ROI on $5,000 was evident within the first month.”

Citation Performance

Based on AEO audit client outcomes

What You Get

Every Deliverable Is Yours to Keep

Concrete, measurable outputs — not vague “strategy sessions” or recurring retainers.

AEO gap analysis across all 12 framework dimensions
Live citation testing: 50+ queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Copilot
Citation scorecard: cited, mentioned, recommended, or absent — per query per platform
Competitor citation comparison (top 3 competitors, same 50+ queries)
Schema gap report with specific JSON-LD additions per page type
Content structure recommendations with Answer-First rewrite examples
Keyword-to-answer mapping: which queries should cite you and currently don't
E-E-A-T signal audit with specific improvement actions

Why This Exists

About AEO Audit

Zero-click searches have surged to 69% of all Google queries (Similarweb 2025), with AI Overview queries hitting 83% zero-click rates (Semrush). Organic CTR plummets 61% when AI Overviews appear (Seer Interactive, Sep 2025). ChatGPT commands 800M weekly users, Perplexity processes 1.2B+ monthly queries, and these engines don't return ten blue links — they synthesize a single authoritative answer and cite the source. If that source isn't you, it's your competitor. BrightEdge found pages with comprehensive schema are 3x more likely to appear in AI Overviews, and content formatted for LLM extraction is 3x more likely to be cited. Traditional SEO audits are blind to this channel because the ranking signals are fundamentally different: AI engines prioritize structured data depth, content specificity, E-E-A-T signals, and token efficiency over backlinks and domain authority. The AEO Audit tests your actual citation performance across all five major AI platforms, reverse-engineers why competitors are winning, and delivers a prioritized playbook to close every gap.

Built For

B2B and B2C brands with existing content that want AI engines to cite them

What Makes This Different

Zero-click searches hit 69% (Similarweb 2025), and organic CTR drops 61% on queries with AI Overviews (Seer Interactive). Yet brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks. Most agencies audit for traditional SEO — meta tags, page speed, backlinks. Top AEO agencies like First Page Sage charge $10,000+/month as ongoing retainers. Our AEO Audit is a one-time $5,000 engagement that tests your citations across 5 live AI platforms with 50+ real queries, maps exactly why competitors are being cited instead of you, and delivers a prioritized fix list — not a recurring invoice.

Process

How It Works

Clear steps from kickoff to delivery. No ambiguity.

1
Kickoff: we learn your brand, products, target topics, and top 3 competitors
2
Query development: 50+ queries spanning brand terms, product categories, comparisons, how-tos, and industry topics
3
Live citation testing: every query submitted to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot — responses scored and recorded
4
Schema and content audit: your structured data evaluated against the 12-point AEO framework
5
Competitor analysis: same 50+ queries tested against your top 3 competitors for direct comparison
6
Deliverable: comprehensive gap analysis with prioritized fixes ranked by citation impact potential

Capabilities

How We Deliver Results

AI citation testing across 5 live platforms with 50+ queries
Featured snippet and AI overview opportunity analysis
E-E-A-T signal evaluation (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
FAQ schema opportunities per page
Voice search and conversational query readiness
Token efficiency analysis per content type
Speakable markup opportunities

Deep Dive

Why This Matters

The 12-Point AEO Framework

Our proprietary framework evaluates: (1) Direct citation rate across AI platforms — content formatted for LLM extraction is 3x more likely to be cited (Conductor AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report). (2) Brand mention frequency in AI-generated answers. (3) Structured data completeness — BrightEdge found pages with comprehensive schema markup are 3x more likely to appear in AI Overviews, and sites implementing structured data saw a 44% increase in AI citations. (4) Content specificity — listicles make up 32% of all AI citations, followed by blog/opinion content at 9.9%. (5) E-E-A-T signal strength — author credentials, organizational authority, trust markers. (6) Token efficiency — computational cost for AI to parse your pages. (7) Answer-First formatting — do your pages lead with the answer or bury it? (8) FAQ coverage — are high-frequency questions explicitly addressed? (9) Schema diversity — yet only 30% of web pages use any Schema.org markup. (10) Speakable markup — can voice assistants read your key answers? (11) Competitive gap analysis — where do competitors outperform you? (12) Quick-win prioritization — which fixes will have the fastest citation impact?

Why Traditional SEO Audits Miss the Point

Google still holds 90.8% search market share, but the nature of that search has fundamentally changed. Similarweb reports zero-click searches surged from 56% to 69% in just one year, with AI Overview queries hitting 83% zero-click rates (Semrush 2025). Seer Interactive's September 2025 study found organic CTR plummeted 61% (from 1.76% to 0.61%) for queries with AI Overviews, while paid CTR crashed 68%. The counterpoint: brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks. Google's legacy algorithm weighs backlinks, domain authority, and page speed. AI answer engines weigh content specificity, schema depth, and factual verifiability. We've audited 200+ sites and found that fewer than 15% of pages ranking in Google's top 10 are actually cited by AI answer engines for the same queries. The gap is structural: most content is written for keyword matching, not for providing specific, verifiable, well-structured answers.

The AI Search Landscape in Numbers

ChatGPT reached 800 million weekly active users by late 2025 (OpenAI), commanding 59.5% of the US AI market share, with Copilot at 14%, Gemini at 13.4%, Perplexity at 6.2%, and Claude at 3.2%. Perplexity processes 1.2–1.5 billion search queries monthly with 45 million MAUs and 170 million monthly visitors. Early AEO adopters are capturing 3.4x more traffic from AI search engines. The AI content marketing industry is expected to grow from $5 billion in 2026 to $17.6 billion by 2033. This is not a niche channel — it's a parallel search ecosystem already processing billions of queries where your business is either cited or invisible.

Citation Testing Methodology

We don't guess — we test. For every audit, we craft 50+ queries spanning your brand terms, product categories, comparison queries, how-to queries, and industry topics. Each query is submitted to all five major AI platforms. Every response is manually scored: direct citation (link to your site), brand mention (named but not linked), recommendation (suggested alongside competitors), or absent (not mentioned at all). The result is a citation scorecard showing exactly where you stand, platform by platform, query by query — with the competitor comparison that reveals who is winning the queries you should own.

Comparison

AEO Audit vs. Traditional SEO Audit vs. AEO Agency Retainer

Feature	Adam Silva Consulting	Typical Alternative
Tests against live AI platforms	5 platforms, 50+ queries
Citation scorecard per query
Competitor AI citation comparison	Top 3 competitors	Backlink comparison only
Schema depth analysis	15+ JSON-LD types	Basic meta tags
Token efficiency scoring
Answer-First content recommendations	With rewrite examples	Generic keyword tips
E-E-A-T signal evaluation	Detailed per-signal scoring	Superficial check
Pricing	$5,000 one-time	$2K–$10K+/mo retainer
Deliverable	Actionable fix list + scorecard	Monthly report or none

FAQ

Common Questions

What does AEO Audit include?+

AEO Audit includes: AEO gap analysis across all 12 framework dimensions; Live citation testing: 50+ queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Copilot; Citation scorecard: cited, mentioned, recommended, or absent — per query per platform; Competitor citation comparison (top 3 competitors, same 50+ queries); Schema gap report with specific JSON-LD additions per page type; Content structure recommendations with Answer-First rewrite examples; Keyword-to-answer mapping: which queries should cite you and currently don't; E-E-A-T signal audit with specific improvement actions. A deep-dive audit of your Answer Engine Optimization posture across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Bing Copilot. We identify exactly why you're not being cited, map the content and schema gaps, and deliver a prioritized fix list ranked by citation impact.

How long does AEO Audit take?+

AEO Audit takes 5 business days. The 5 business days timeline begins once the engagement is confirmed and kickoff is complete.

Who is AEO Audit for?+

AEO Audit is designed for B2B and B2C brands with existing content that want AI engines to cite them. If you are unsure whether this service fits your needs, start with the free Agentic Commerce Readiness Assessment (ACRA) for a prioritized strategic roadmap.

How do you test AI citations?+

We manually submit 50+ queries to ChatGPT (GPT-4), Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Bing Copilot. Each response is scored on a 4-point scale: direct citation (link to your site), brand mention (named but not linked), recommendation (suggested alongside competitors), or absent. The same queries are tested against your top 3 competitors for direct comparison.

What's the difference between AEO and SEO?+

SEO optimizes for Google's 10 blue links — it's about ranking position. AEO optimizes for AI answer engines — it's about being cited as THE authoritative source. The ranking signals are completely different: AI engines prioritize structured data, content specificity, E-E-A-T, and token efficiency over backlinks and domain authority. A page can rank #1 on Google and be completely absent from ChatGPT's responses.

What happens after the audit?+

You receive a prioritized action plan. Quick wins (schema additions, FAQ pages, speakable markup) can be implemented immediately. For larger structural changes (Answer-First content rewrites, full schema architecture), our GEO Implementation service ($7,500) handles everything. Many clients implement quick wins themselves and hire us for the structural work.

Honest Talk